Hope From A New World
by Hunterz50
Summary: What would happen if a new character was added into the world of Hinamizawa? Would this stranger be able to make a difference in this new world he has been brought to? Will he be able to help contest Fate and perhaps find happiness in his own life?
1. Prelude

**Prelude**

_Ha! Looks like I'm last to survive. As long as I can stay hidden till the bell rings, I've got this game in the bag. _She peeks around the corner… No one in sight. The field is devoid of life. _Something's off though. It's too quite around here. I can't see any other of the club members._ Instinctively she leaps forward into a roll to avoid the tag.

"Aww, almost got you Mii-chan." The girl in the white clothes says.

"Won't you come join us zombies? We have brai, I mean, cookies! Hehehe."

"Sorry Rena, but I'm determined to live to see tomorrow!" She dashes off.

She is easily able to get out of Rena's grasp but something seems odd again. _Where's Sotoko and Rika?!?_ Her question is answered right as she turns the corner.

"Crap!"

Before her stands Rika and Satoko. Both have the smiles of those about to feast on the flesh of another.

"Oh my. It seems Mii-chan has fallen right into my trap. I am disappointed in you Mion. I think your penalty should be that you should lie quietly as I devour your brains." Satoko mocks.

"Mii, I agree. I shall enjoy a lovely feast of brains today." Rika adds.

Mion turns around to escape only to find Rena standing there, blocking here way.

"Sorry Mii-chan, it doesn't look like there will be any escape for you today."

_Ah man, what am I going to do? It would take a friggen miracle to get out of this mess._ As if to answer her call, a bright light and a sound of an explosion rip through the field. The four club members look in the direction of the explosion only to see a boy, lying on the ground, bleeding heavily. They all stand there dumbfounded. It only takes a second, though, for Mion to register what's going on.

"Rika, go get Chie-sensei! Satoko, go get the first aid! Rena, you watch over him and make sure he's ok! I'm going to call Irie-sensei!"


	2. Chapter 1: A Strange New Place

**Chapter 1: A strange new place**

My name is Micheal. Of all the memories floating through my head, My name is the only thing I am sure of. My full name though; my family; my home have all seemed to have disappeared in my mind. I am in a strange place that I do not know. How I got here is unknown to me as well. All I know is my name, and the fact that there is a beautiful girl sitting beside my bed.

"Ah, you're awake!!!" she says upon realizing my eyes have opened.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"You are in the Sonozaki household" she replies.

At this point I am still dazed from just waking up. "Huh?" I try to get up… Suddenly a sharp pain rips through my side!

"AAAAH!!!"

The girl next to me grabs my arm. "Don't move! You're body is still healing!"

As I lie back down, my mind focuses on the memory that was the last memory to be stored before I awoke.

_Man I'm hungry. _I think to myself. _Can't wait to get back home so we can eat._ In my hands I am carrying two bags of fast food. My brother and his girlfriend were hungry so they suggested that I go and pick up some fast food. Normally I would have declined except for the fact that they offered to pay for my meal since I would be running the errand.

I was about halfway home when I was stopped by a man.

"Hey man, can you spare some change? I'm as drunk as a skunk and I need some money to get home."

"Uhhhh…..sure." Hesitantly, I give the man two dollars, even though I am sure he is sober.

"Ah thanks man. I'm as drunk as a skunk."

I don't know why he keeps saying this, but for some reason it irritates me. As I am turning to leave he calls out one more time, "God bless you man, God bless you."

"Uhh…thanks" I say embarrassed.

I leave the man and cross the street. I am lost in thought, wondering if what I did was the right thing. Suddenly I hear, "JESUS MAN, LOOK OUT!!!" As I look up in my confusion, I see an oncoming truck with its horn blaring at me. There is no time to escape.

"I'm dead."

I wake up again, lying in a futon. Apparently, I have been recovering here in the Sonozaki residence for the past few days. The girl from earlier has been watching over me while was here. Her name is Mion Sonozaki. I thanked her for watching over me, but she only says, "It's ok! It's not like I could just leave you when you were hurt like that. I'm glad to be able to watch over you." Remembering that makes me smile. I think she got embarrassed at the way she phrased it, because her cheeks suddenly turned red, and she said she had something that she forgot to do. As she is about to leave she remembers something.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! I still don't know your name!"

"Oh right. My name is Micheal. You can call me Mike though. It's a pleasure to meet you." I reply.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too!" She says as she leaves the room.

I haven't gotten much time to talk to Mion since I've been sleeping a lot in order to recover, but from what I can tell, I appeared out of nowhere. "There was a bright light and a loud bang, like an explosion. We all looked over and saw you lying on the ground, bleeding. There was a trail of blood on the ground so we assumed that you had been hit by something big and flung as a result. I called Irie-sensei, and he came as soon as possible." That must be the man in the white lab coat I've been seeing while awake. It seems that I was in no condition to be taken to his clinic, so Mion suggested that I be taken to her place since it was closer.

Since that time, I've been here. I once heard the doctor say that I am lucky to be alive. _Oh great. A near- death experience._ _At least I get to be cared for by a beautiful girl because of it. _I find it hard to keep from blushing when she is around. It seems all I can do is stare at her when she's here. It's not that easy to talk to her since I've just met her, but it is getting easier every time I get to.

The sliding door to my room opens. Mion walks in. She is dressed in a regular bathrobe. Her long green hair is put up in a ponytail and draped over her shoulder. Even though the way she is dressed is very simple, I find it very hard to look away.

"Oh, You're awake. How do you feel?" she asks.

"I've felt better." I reply.

"Yeah, I bet. You seemed to have been hit pretty hard. Do you know what hit you?"

I forgot that I hadn't told anyone about what happened. I'm sure that they are all confused as to why a boy has come out of nowhere, covered in blood. I tell Mion my memory of the accident.

"….and that's the last thing I remember before waking up here." I explain.

"I see…." She is obviously confused as to how I got here.

"You say I came here in a flash of light?" I ask.

"Yes. There was a bright flash and a sound of like an explosion. When we looked in the direction of the flash, you were lying there." She replies.

"Sounds like something out of a science fiction movie to me." I comment.

"We were hoping that you would know about how this happened." She told me.

"I wish I knew. This hasn't ever happened to me." I reply.

She looks a little disappointed. "Hmm…well, I'm glad that you weren't killed from it at least." She gives a weak smile.

"Me too. It would have been a pity to miss out on meeting you." I say without thinking.

We both blush and avert our gazes. After a couple of seconds, I attempt to break the awkward silence between us.

"Uhh, Thanks for letting me stay here while I recover. I would like to find some way to repay you when I get better."

"Oh no, that won't be necessary. It is our duty as Sonozaki's to take care of the weak and injured." She says as she puffs with pride.

"Ah thanks. I knew I was injured, but I didn't know I was weak till just now." I say teasingly.

"No, that's not what I meant!"

She pouts. I am unable to constrain myself from laughing at the face she is making. Unfortunately, almost as soon as I start laughing, I have to stop because of the pain in my side.

"Ha. Serves you right for laughing at me." She rebuts.

"Oww, ah…..sorry. Didn't mean to hurt your feelings." I apologize.

"Oh no, you didn't hurt my feelings." She replies.

"That's good. Don't think I'd be able to forgive myself for hurting a girl."

"You're quite the man, now aren't you?"

I smile at her, "I try."

She smiles back at me. "Well, I have some things to take care of. Irie-sensei should be in here in a little bit so rest until then, ok?"

"Ok, I'll try not to fall into a deep sleep before he gets here. See you later."

"Yeah, see ya!"

About half an hour later, a man in a white lab coat enters my room.

"Good afternoon, I am Dr. Irie."

After we greet each other we begin to talk. Mostly we talk about how I'm feeling and such. After a while I ask him about my general situation.

"You are in a village called Hinamizawa. There are about two thousand residents living here." He explains.

"I see."

_Hinamizawa... The name seems to ring a bell, but I'm not too sure about it. _The doctor looks like he wants to ask me something.

"Is something wrong?" I ask.

"No, I umm…I was just wondering if you knew how you got here." He asks hesitantly.

"Not really."

I tell him what I remember.

"Interesting…"

"Yeah, it's like something out of a science fiction novel, I know." I comment.

"Yes well, I've never heard of anything like this happening in real life." He replies.

"I don't think anyone has." I rebut.

"That is most certainly true. Anyways, if you need anything from me just have Mion call me up, ok?"

"Sounds good." I reply.

Dr. Irie waves goodbye and leaves my room, leaving me by myself.

The room I am staying in appears to be pretty simple. It is a classic Japanese style room. Near the head of my futon, there is a desk with some flowers on top of it. I am unable to identify the flowers since I never really spent time trying to learn such things. There also seems to be some incense burning in a holder on the desk. The smell is wonderful. I wonder if it is something they use to ward off evil spirits or something. I don't know much about Japanese culture so naturally I wouldn't know. Nor do I feel like it would be polite to ask. _Not like an unsolved mystery is going to kill me. _I sigh. _Oh well. Guess I had better get some rest. I hope Mion comes to see me again when I wake up._

When I wake up the next morning, I am alone in the room. _Dang, she isn't here._ Though displeased, I don't let it get to me. _Not like I should expect her to spend every last second she has free, taking care of me. She has a life too._ Before I can complain anymore to myself, my stomach starts to growl. _Man I'm hungry. _Suddenly I remember what happened to bring me here. _I wonder if my family is worried about me. _I ponder this for a while, but then I hear the sound of the sliding door being opened. I sit up to see Mion with a small box.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Lunch. I'm sure you're hungry. You haven't eaten much since you've been here."

She proceeds to sit down next to me with the box.

"It's ohagi. Baa-chan made them for us."

I look at the bean paste covered, rice balls.

"Do you like ohagi?" she asks me.

"I haven't ever had any." I reply.

"Ah well, I'm sure you'll like it. Baa-chan makes the best ohagi."

As I pick up an ohagi I feel like something is strange. I feel like I've seen ohagi before even though I know that I haven't ever had any. Something inside me is trying to make the connection, but is unable to. I take a bite.

"Wow, this is really good." I announce.

Mion smiles and says, "I knew you would like it."

I smile back.

"Are you going to have some?" I ask.

"Of course. Baa-chan made them for both of us." She replies.

"That's good. I feel that it's better to eat with someone else then to eat alone."

"I feel the same way. It's more fun to do things with others rather than just with yourself."

After we finish eating I thank her for bringing lunch and for eating with me.

"I really appreciate it."

Her face turns red.

"Well, it's not like we could let you starve or anything."

"Yeah, you probably wouldn't be very good hosts if you let your guests starve, now would you."

"Exactly!"

She laughs.

I laugh with her. Again my side is enveloped in pain.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make your side hurt." She says with a worried expression.

"It's ok…"

*huff* *puff*

"I can't stay in pain forever. Pain is only temporary anyways." I reply as the pain lessens.

"Doesn't mean that it hurts any less now though." She replies.

"That's true, but I can't really call myself a man if I can't bear a little bit of pain."

She giggles and I smile in return.

"I guess you're right. Anyways I hope you will recover soon so we don't have to worry about it. "

"Yes, the sooner the better. It makes me happy that you are worried about me though."

We both blush heavily.

"Anyways….thanks again for lunch. I really enjoyed it."

"Yes, I enjoyed it as well." She replies.

"I'm sure you have things to do some I'm going to let you go for now."

She seems to hesitate a little.

"Ah yes, well…."

I interrupt her.

"Unless you wouldn't mind hanging out with me for a while. I would enjoy the company."

She smiles.

"Alright. I don't mind hanging out here."

I can tell she enjoys my company as much as I enjoy hers. This makes me very happy.

We talk for a couple of hours. Mostly about her since I don't remember much about my life. She tells me about how she is the next head to the Sonozaki family, and how the Sonozaki family is one of the three major houses in Hinamizawa. I ask her if she wants to have that position. She replies that it doesn't matter if she wants it or not. I tell her that it should be her choice to be the head.

"It's fine. I'm not saying that I don't want to be the head. Actually, it's an honor to be chosen as the head."

I reply to her, "As long as you are happy with the position you are put in, then I have no problem."

She chuckles.

"And what would you do if I were being forced to be the head against my will?" She questions.

"I'd come to your rescue of course." I say with a smile.

"Ha, unfortunately the Sonozaki's are pretty well known for their fighting ability." She replies.

"Like that would mean anything to me. It wouldn't matter what enemies I had to face. If someone is trying to force my friend Mion to do something against her will, then I will fight them with all my power, even if it kills me." I proclaim with as much passion as I can muster.

"That's very sweet, Mike-kun"

I blush like crazy.

"Ah…yeah…well…umm….It's the least I can do for you helping me out." I reply.

"I wouldn't want you to do something that would get you killed though…." She says in a voice that trails off.

"No, being killed probably would be the best solution, but I would definitely fight if you needed me to." I reply to her.

"Thank you. That really means a lot to me." She says while blushing.

Our eyes lock for a few seconds before we both have to avert our gazes out of embarrassment.

After a while Mion says that she has to go prepare dinner. I let her go as I am also hungry. She says that she will return with dinner in a bit. Until that time I decide to take a nap. My mind begins to slow. Thoughts about the time I spent with Mion slowly start to fade. They fade away until I have become fully asleep.


	3. Chapter 2: A New Life

**Chapter 2: A new life**

It has been one week since I appeared here in Hinamizawa. Mion has been taking good care of me while I've been recovering. Finally, Dr. Irie says that I've healed enough to start moving around again.

"Just be careful not to do any strenuous activities, ok?" He warns me.

"Yeah, I got it. No problem."

I'm just happy to be able to get out of the futon. Since I don't know my way around, Mion offers to give me a tour of her place. I accept her offer, of course. Not like I would turn down an opportunity to spend time with Mion. I am also curious about where she lives. After we visited all the rooms in the main building, we head out to the garden.

"Ah, it's really nice out here." I comment.

"I bet. It's probably no fun to be cooped up in a room for a whole week."

"You got that right. It was easier though since I had some company." I say as I start to smile.

"Yeah well, I only did it because I had to." She teases.

"Oh you're nice. What happened to the duty of the Sonozaki's you were so proud of?" I reply sarcastically.

"What's that? I don't know what you are talking about." She rebuts to my sarcasm with her own.

We both laugh as we walk through the garden. "Seriously though, I really appreciate you coming to spend time with me while I recovered."

I say as my cheeks begin to burn.

"It was nothing really. Haha." She scratches her head in embarrassment.

Mion had grabbed some bento's before we came out to the garden so we decided to eat there. It was a wonderfully peaceful afternoon. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The smell from the garden was amazing, as to be expected from a garden of one of the three top houses. What smelled even better was the bento Mion had made for us.

"Itadakimasu!"

I follow her lead.

"Itadakimasu."

We dig in to our bento. I had not had much Japanese style food before my accident so I had no idea what I was eating, but all of it tasted amazing. We both talked and ate for about an hour.

"That was really good Mion! I wish I could cook as well as you can." I compliment her.

"Ha ha, well I wasn't born with the talent. I had to learn it like everyone else."

"Ah, I bet that I could learn to make great food like you if you taught me how." I suggest.

"Yeah, that would be good. That way you could make your own food instead of relying on me all the time to make your food."

"Ah, Mion-chan. You're soo mean." I complain.

"Haha, just kidding."

I stick out my tongue at her. She begins to laugh which causes me to do the same.

We begin to walk back to the house together.

"Now that you're up and about, I think it's a good time for you to meet my family."

I make a sour face at her.

"Oh come on. It won't be that bad." She tries to comfort me.

"Okay okay. Guess if I have to meet them at some point, now would be better than later."

We head to the living room. Mion has me sit at the end of a table.

"Wait here. I'll go get baa-chan and Ka-san."

After about five minutes Mion comes back and sits next to me. I am a little nervous about meeting her Grandma and Mother. I'm glad that she will be sitting next to me for support though. A couple minutes later, Oryou Sonozaki and Akane Sonozaki enter the room. They both take seats opposite me and Mion.

"My name is Micheal. It is a pleasure to meet both of you."

Oryou speaks first.

"I am Oryou Sonozaki. This is my daughter Akane."

From what Mion has told me, Oryou is the head of the Sonozaki family. She also said that she can be a little rough to talk to. It's easy to tell why I would be nervous.

"Ah well, I would like to thank you for taking me into your home while I healed. I appreciate it very much."

Akane speaks this time.

"We are glad that you were able to make a good recovery while staying in our home."

I feel less tense when it's Akane that's talking.

"Yes, if there is anything I can do to repay you for letting me stay here; I would like to do so."

Akane starts to open her mouth to say something but is interrupted by Oryou.

"Hmm…well there might be something that you could do for us."

I look at Mion for a second. She seems to have a surprised look on her face.

"I will try to do whatever task you ask of me to the fullest extent I can do it."

Oryou smiles.

"Very well. I would like you to be a bodyguard for Mion."

The silence last for only about three seconds before….

"WHAT?!?!"

Both Mion and Akane spout out at the same time.

"Baa-chan you can't seriously mean for him to be a bodyguard for me, can you? I mean, I don't even really need a bodyguard!" Mion complains.

"I agree. We can't ask this boy to become a bodyguard for Mion just because he is using our residence to recover." Akane adds.

"Silence!"

Daughter and Grandchild both shut their mouths.

"What do you say Micheal-kun?"

The way she asks me makes a tingle go down my spine.

"Ah well, I don't really have any problem with it or anything, but I haven't really been trained to be a bodyguard." I explain.

"Oh that won't be a problem. I will be teaching you."

I am just about to burst out like Mion and Akane earlier, but I restrain myself.

"Alright. When will we begin?" I ask.

"Meet me here tomorrow at 5 a.m. sharp."

"Yes ma'am." I reply.

"Oh and call me Oryou-sensei from now on."

"Yes Oryou-sensei."

With that Oryou declares that she needs here meds. Me and Mion are shooed out of the room by Akane. Before we leave, Akane says to me, "I'm sorry Micheal-kun. I will try to reason with her."

In response I say, "It's ok Akane-san. I truly do want to repay you guys for taking care of me. If this is the way Oryou-sensei wants me to do it then I have no problem with it. Honestly I am actually pretty interested in what Oryou-sensei is going to teach me."

"Very well then. All I can say is please don't make her angry. You won't like the results."

"I'll try my best not to."

With that, Mion and I leave.

We ended up walking back to my room. Mion is totally pissed at her grandma. I can understand the reason, but I did kinda choose this. Mion takes a seat on a pillow.

"Man, I can't believe this! Why would she try to take advantage of the situation like that and make you into my bodyguard? "

Mion had brought in a tea kettle, a heater, and some tea bags in when I was still recovering so I took this time to make some tea for the both of us.

"I don't know. Maybe she was just worried about you and wanted someone to look out for you." I try to reply logically.

"Even if that was the case, she could just hire a professional. She doesn't need to involve a complete stranger."

_That's true._

"Well, maybe she wanted someone closer to your age so that they wouldn't get in your way so much. Like if you had a big, bulky guy following you around everywhere, things would get pretty awkward, you know?"

I pour the tea for her and myself. After setting the kettle down, I sit down, facing Mion. She sips the tea, but her face still says that she's angry. _She's pretty cute when she's angry_.

"What? What is it?" She asks as she catches me staring at her.

_Crap!_

"Nothing, it's nothing."

She gives me a sour looks, but lets it slide.

The next half hour is spent listening to her rant about how stupid her grandma is being about this. All the time I am trying to tell her that it's really ok, and I'm totally fine with it. She lets out a huge sigh. _It seems she's finally given up._

"You're no help at all." She says bluntly.

"I was just looking for a way to return the favor. If this is the way Oryou-sensei wants me to repay it then I have no room to complain. Beside."

"Besides what?" she asks.

I answer.

"Beside, I'll be able to spend more time with you now."

We both blush and avert our gazes. I feel silly for always doing things like this.

"Yeah, I guess that all of it isn't bad."

She suddenly give a mischievous smile.

_Uh oh._

"And I guess that means that you are my slave and you have to do whatever I tell you to."

"Ah well, I don't think that….."

She interrupts.

"Hehehe, we could get into a lot of mischief. I could even have you take the blame for it."

I frown.

"Oh don't look so down! I'm just kidding. I would never have you do something like that."

"Of course not. Mion would never do that to her bodyguard! Her bodyguard probably wouldn't like her very much if she did something like that." I say teasingly.

"No that definitely wouldn't be very good of me. I want my bodyguard to like me."

"I think your bodyguard wants you to like him too. He hopes he will do a good job as a bodyguard and make you feel safe."

She smiles.

"I'm sure he'll do fine."

I smile as well, which eventually turns into a blush. The same happens for Mion.

"I really enjoy being able to talk to you. I haven't had a friend like you in a long time."

I tell her what I feel.

"Ah, I feel the same. I'm really glad you came out of nowhere."

"You're glad I got hit by a truck?" I ask teasingly.

"Of course not!" She says as she punches me in the arm.

We both burst out into laughter.

We spend the next hour or two talking about random things. Mion tells me about her twin sister, Shion and how she has escaped from boarding school. She also tells me about her own school. As she is explaining these things to me I get the feeling like I have heard about them before. As she describes her sister and her friends, I feel like I already know them. The feeling only lasts for a moment though.

"That sounds really fun! Maybe I can transfer into your school and be a part of club activities as well."

"Don't think I'll go easy on you because you're new. If you lose, there will be punishment games!"

"Haha, well I'll have to be sure to win every time now, won't I?"

Mion gives a sinister smile.

"We'll see about that."

_Perhaps I should think this through a little bit_.

"Oh, by the way Micheal-kun. I was wondering if you would like to go out on a da…ah tour. I mean…."

She takes a breath before continuing.

"Would you like to go on a tour of Hinamizawa tomorrow with me?"

I chuckle a little, which makes Mion blush.

"Yeah, I would love to go on a tour with you tomorrow. Maybe we'll see one of your friends and you can introduce me."

I smile.

"Great! I'll wake you up tomorrow so we can go."

"Umm….I'll probably be up already." I reply slowly.

"Huh? Why?" she asks.

After a second….

"Oh. Right."

Her face turns sour again.

I sigh.

"Oh well, I guess it can't be helped." She says.

She give me a smile, though not a very strong one.

"I'm sure everything will be fine. I'll be looking forward to going on the tour with you."

I try to change her mood.

"Yes, I will be too."

Looks like I did.

"Well I should probably get some sleep. If I stay awake too long I'm sure I'll regret it in the morning."

"Alright I'll get out of your hair. Good night Mike-kun."

"Good night Mion-chan."

With that, Mion leaves the room. There is still a little bit of a mess to take care of so I quickly clean up, and take my futon out. I know Mion probably wouldn't agree, but I think that today turned out to be a pretty good day. With that thought, I close my eyes. My senses dim. Dreams of my day with Mion tomorrow begin to set in.


	4. Chapter 3: Getting Familiar

**Chapter 3: Getting Familiar and Adjustment**

I woke up earlier then I had been in the past weeks. My body was still tired and I was tempted to go back to sleep. It was then that I remembered why I had woken up so early. The thought of what Oryou-sensei would do to me if I was late for my first session sent chills down my spine. Luckily I was able to get out of bed at around 4:30. It was easily enough time for me to get dressed and get prepared for what I was about to experience. I can't say that I am too excited. I know it will be tough, but I am prepared for it. I am going to be Mion's bodyguard.

After I finish preparing myself, I head to the living room where I was told to meet sensei. I arrive at 4:50. _Ten minutes early, but they say that being on time is actually being late. _I find the room empty, so I decide to take a seat. Five minutes later, Oryou-sensei comes in.

"Ah good, you're early."

I remain silent, as I don't think that trying to show off would be a very smart thing to do. I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate it.

She beckons me to follow her. Naturally, I rise from my seated position to follow.

We walk through the halls of the Sonozaki mansion. I can see lights on in some of the rooms. We pass one of the rooms that I recognize as Mion's. The lights are off, so I assume that she is still sleeping. I notice sensei turn her head a little. I can tell she is watching me. I'm not too sure what she is trying to pick up from me though. I act as normal as I can.

After a while, we leave the mansion and head outside.

_We must be heading for the dojo_.

Sure enough, we come to the dojo. As we enter, I find that the lights are already on and there is a man standing in the center of the dojo. He is dressed in a black karate uniform. He is about 6 feet tall and looks to be around the age of 30. I'm sure that sensei is going to ask him to be my opponent.

_I really hope I'm wrong. This guy would kick my ass._

Sensei stops and turns to me.

"This is Shinji. He will be testing you on how skilled you are."

_Didn't see that coming. _I think sarcastically to myself.

"What do you want me to do sensei?" I ask, hoping she will tell me to fight an imaginary enemy. I know that it's futile though.

"I want you to fight him." She answers like it is nothing.

"Alright then."

I try not to appear reluctant.

_She'd probably have him kick my ass even harder if I did_

I take my position in front on Shinji. Neither of us moves. He then bows to me. I repeat the gesture. He then takes a fighting stance. I don't know any fighting stances so I stand how I would normally. For a time, we just stand there. When it became obvious to him that I wasn't going to make the first move, he comes rushing in. I dodge out of the way of the oncoming blow.

_He's going easy on me._

The punch he threw wasn't a very fast one. It wouldn't have done much damage even if it had connected with me. When I stand up again I can see Shinji smiling at me.

_Looks like things are going to get serious now._

He rushes me again. This time he attacks me with his other fist. Its speed is quite a bit faster than the previous punch. I am able to dodge this punch as well, but only just barely. I think that his left arm is his dominate, but it would be a mistake to assume that. I have to assume that both are equally powerful or I will surely be taken out with an unexpectedly strong blow.

"Are you only good at dodging? How are you going to protect Mion-sama if all you do is dodge?"

_He's right. I can't be a bodyguard if I'm afraid for my own life._

"I'm sure I'd be fine if it's only someone like you that's attacking her." I provoke him.

Sensei chuckles.

Shinji's face no longer has a cool expression on it. He is obviously ready to go at me full force.

He charges me. He swings his fist.

_It's his right fist. I knew it!_

As the fist fly's towards my stomach, I make no attempt to dodge or block the oncoming blow. I simply stand there.

*THUD!*

I am knocked back a few feet, but I am able to stay standing. My stomach is aching badly, but I refrain from holding it or bending over. I stand tall. Shinji has a surprised expression on his face. Sensei also has an identical expression. Shinji's didn't last for very long though and he runs at me again.

*THUD!!*

Again, I am knocked back, but again I stand tall. Shinji is obviously becoming angry at my show of will. He comes at me one more time, determined to knock me over.

*THUD!!!*

This time I am unable to stand up completely. He was not able to knock me over, but I was unable to help but fall to my knee. Both Shinji and I are breathing heavily. I try to stand up, but I am unable.

_I can do this._

Although my stomach feels like it's on fire, I stand tall once more. I face my opponent. His face grows red with rage. He charges full speed at me. He is not going to let be stand back up. He will not be shown up by this brat again. His fist comes. Not to my stomach like last time, but to my face. It does not connect though. His charge was reckless. Even an amateur, like me, could see that. I easily step to the side. Because he delivered his punch with full force he was thrown off balance since it didn't connect. As I dodge to the side I pull my own arm back and deliver my own blow with all the energy I can muster.

Even though I had the advantage, Shinji was able to counter my attack. He is truly a professional. I open my eyes to see the ceiling of the dojo. My mind is spinning. My entire back hurts and I have a slight headache. Not to mention my stomach. It appears that he grabbed my arm and somehow threw me over his shoulder when I attacked. I knew this would happen if I tried to attack him at the beginning so I avoided doing so. A second later I see Shinji standing over me.

"That was pretty clever. I have to give you that."

"Thanks." I reply.

He offers me his hand. After a second I grab it, hoping it wasn't a trap. He pulls me to his feet.

"All right that's enough for today." Announces sensei.

_Thank God!_

Shinji bows to sensei and I do the same after him.

"Same time tomorrow sensei?" Shinji asks.

Oryou nods to him.

When Shinji leaves, she turns to me.

"That was quite impressive Micheal-kun." She compliments me.

"Yes, Sensei."

She smiles at my answer.

"It's ok, this isn't boot camp. You can reply normally."

"Thank you, sensei." I reply.

"It seems that you like to think through your situation rather than rush into things. That is very good."

I don't know what to reply with so I remain silent.

"You can return to the mansion now. Be sure to be here tomorrow at 5."

"Yes, sensei. See you tomorrow."

I leave the dojo and head back to the mansion. As I walk past Mion's room, I see that the light is on.

_Looks like she gets up pretty early in the morning._

When I get back to my room I look at the clock. It reads 6:07.

_Looks like training took about an hour. Wonder if I should expect that every day._

My body is still sore from being beaten upon so I lie down. My body aches, but seems to accept that I want to rest. I close my eyes in hopes to get some rest before my tour with Mion today. Luckily my mind is able to ignore my aches and starts to settle down. My mind shuts off and I fall asleep.

I am awakened I few hours later by Mion. My body is still tired from this morning's training.

"Come on Mike-kun! You have to get up!"

I give off a moan tell her that I'm still tired.

She grabs me and starts shaking me.

"Come on! We were going to go on a tour of Hinamizawa, but if you don't get up, we can't go!"

Again I moan. I also add in some unintelligible gibberish.

"Fine! If you'd rather sleep then go on a tour with me, I'll just go into town without you."

Not wanting her to do so, I roll over onto my back and sit up. I rub the sleep from my eyes and mumble out a, "Good morning" to Mion.

"Bout time. You're soo lazy." She complains.

"No I'm not. I'm just tired from training."

"Oh stop making excuses. It's your fault that you have to be my bodyguard."

_I thought it was sensei's fault. When did I turn into the bad guy?_

I sigh. "Okay, Okay. It's my fault. Doesn't change the fact that I'm tired."

She starts to pout.

"I'm up now so it's ok. I'll get ready to go so would you please get out of my room so I can change?"

"Fine, fine. Just hurry up, okay? I don't want to wait all day for you."

_Geez, she can be bossy._

Mion leaves the room. I begin to change as fast as I can. I begin to smile as I think of the day I have ahead of me.

_Man, I'm excited. Can't wait to see the city. I'd also like to meet some of Mion's friends._

I soon finish getting ready and leave my room. Mion is waiting for me. She is leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

_Geez, is she seriously mad at me?_

"You ready?" She asks me.

"Yep!" I reply quickly.

"Good." She smiles.

_Thank God._

As we leave the mansion, Mion grabs a picnic basket. It's obvious she prepared lunch for us. Mion seems to be in a better mood now that we are out of the house. I am curious if there was any reason behind her hostility, but I decide not to ask.

_It's probably just her personality. I don't feel like she was honestly mad at me. I hope at least._

We begin our tour of the village. Mion shows me to a couple of houses, scattered here and there, and explains who lives in each. I am amazed that she could memorize such a thing. Though then again, it isn't that large of a village. If I remember right, Irie-sensei said that the population was about two thousand.

Soon we come up to a shine.

"This is the Furude Shrine." Mion explains.

_Furude…I think I remember that name._

"Didn't you have a friend named Furude?" I ask.

"Yeah. Rika. Her last name is Furude. She's the head of the Furude household actually." She replies.

"The head? Did the previous head die?" I ask.

_Duh, Mike. _I think to myself after asking a stupid question.

Mion suddenly becomes quiet. He face is downcast.

"Her father died of a strange illness, and her mother committed suicide." She explains.

"Ah man…"

I am at a loss for words.

"Is she okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. She lives with Satoko, who also lost her parents and her brother."

I want to ask what happened, but seeing how Mion is acting, I refrain. To my surprise she tells me anyway.

"Satoko's parents had an accident and fell off I waterfall, while site seeing. They found her father's body upstream, but they never found her mothers. Later her brother became stressed over how their aunt was treating Satoko and he…..ran away."

I look down.

_Man I feel so bad for them. I wish there was something I could do._

We are both silent for a few seconds. Mion decides to break the silence.

"Anyways, I'm getting pretty hungry. You want to have lunch now?"

Happy to change the mood, I agree.

"Yeah, I'm starving."

We find a place in the grass to lie a blanket down. We both take a seat and Mion opens the picnic basket up. She takes out a couple boxes of sandwiches, and other assorted foods, which I can't identify. Everything looks soo good and I can't wait to dig in. Mion finishes removing to contents of the basket and sets it aside. Just as we are about to start, we hear the sound of footsteps.

"My, my. What do we have here?" A blonde girl teases.

"Mii, it looks like a couple having a picnic." The girl with the blue hair replies to her friend.

"Ah, Satoko, Rika. How are you two doing?"

I examine the two girls standing in front of us. There are two girls; both seem to be around 11 or 12 years old of age. One has short blonde hair, with a hair band. She is wearing a green dress-like outfit. The other has blue long blue hair. She is wearing a blue dress-like outfit. Both of them together look very cute. Though I begin to feel sorry for them after hearing what happened to them both.

The girls are all talking to each other.

_I wonder what's being said._

I hadn't been paying attention to the conversation while I was examining the two girls.

The girl with the long blue hair turns to me.

"Mii, so is this the boy you've been talking about Mii-chan?" She asks.

"Yeah, this is Mike-kun."

I stand up and bow to the two girls.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." I say.

The girls do the same. After their bow, the girl with the blue hair speaks.

"My name is Rika, and this is Satoko."

_Got it._ I think to myself now that I have the two sorted out.

"Mike-kun and I were about to have lunch together. Why don't you guys join us?"

Satoko speaks up.

"Oh we don't want to get in the middle of your guy's date."

Both me and Mion blush instantly.

"It's not a date! I was just giving Mike-kun a tour of Hinamizawa!"

"Y-yeah! We just got hungry and stopped to have lunch. That's all."

Satoko and Rika giggle.

"Oh ok. If we aren't a bother to you then we don't mind eating with you." Rika says.

After her sentence, she adds a "Nipah". I think that it is very cute.

Satoko and Rika sit down and we all begin eating. As we eat the girls begin talking. I mostly listen to what they are saying. Every once in a while they would direct a question at me. Both the younger girls became very interested when Mion mentioned that I was possibly looking into transferring into their school and joining their club.

"Oh, is that so?" Satoko asks while putting on a sinister smile.

"I think it would be fun to have another person in our club. Nipah!" Rika states her opinion.

"Yeah, we've been looking for someone to make our slave every time they lose." Mion adds in.

"I thought I was already your slave." I rebut

"Haha, that's different." Mion laughs.

"What's he mean by that Mion-san?" Satoko asks.

"Oh well….." She hesitates.

"I'm Mion's Bodyguard." I state.

"Wha….?" Satoko and Rika say in unison.

I explain my situation to them.

"Ah I see." Satoko say.

"Mii, I'm sure you'll be a great body guard for Mii."

"I certainly hope so." I say.

Mion appears to be looking away as she is not pleased with the conversation.

"Don't think Mion is too happy about it though."

"I just don't like how Baa-chan took advantage of the situation like that. I understand that you wanted to repay us for letting you stay with us, but I think she took it too far." She complains.

"You're probably right Mion. Oryou-sensei probably did take it too far, but I really wanted a way to repay you guys. I wasn't look for a way because I felt obligated to; I did it because I really wanted to express my gratitude for your hospitality. If this is the way sensei wants for me to show it then I have no problem with it."

Mion's face shows that she still isn't happy. I try again.

"I'm sure I can make everything work out. You trust me don't you?"

I place my hand on her shoulder. She looks up and stares into my eyes.

"I trust you."

We both smile and I take my hand off her shoulder. Rika and Satoko both get up.

"Well we best be off. Rika and I still have shopping to do."

"Alright, see you guys later." Mion replies.

"Hope to see you at school Mike-kun. Nipah!" Rika says to me.

"Yeah. Hope to see you guys again soon." I call out as they leave.

As they are leaving, I think I catch a glimpse of a girl following behind Rika, but after I blink a couple times, there was nothing.

_Odd. I could have sworn I saw someone there._

After that, I help Mion pack up. After we are all packed up, we head back out to continue our tour. As we walk, we talk about various things. I make a comment on how Satoko and Rika seem to be doing well.

"Yeah. They get by. Everyone in the village does their best to help them out." Mion explains.

"Yeah, they seem happy to me. It makes me glad for them."

We continue walking and end up coming to what appears to be the town dump. Mion explains that this used to be the site of the dam project set up by the government. She then goes into detail about how the villagers all gathered their strength to fight the project and won.

"That's really awesome! It's great to see people get close like that and fight for the greater good."

"Yeah it was quite amazing." Mion replies.

Something doesn't seem quite right though as Mion begins to frown.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

She freezes for a moment. Then like lightning, "Nothing!"

"Nothing? But Mion…."

She cuts me off.

"Anyways, we should head back to town now."

She starts to walk off, but I grab her arm and turn her around.

"Hey, Mion."

She is staring straight down.

"Come on. You said you trusted me back at the shrine remember? You can tell me whatever it is. I promise I won't freak out."

She again freezes. I give her a bit of time, but after a minute she still says nothing. I realize that she doesn't intend to tell me and I release her arm.

"Let's go." I say in a sad voice. I walk past her, headed towards town.

"Mike-kun…."

I stop and turn around to face her. Her face is pained, but I can tell she is going to tell me.

"A couple of years ago….during the dam wars……"

She pauses for a bit.

"….There was a murder."

"A murder?"

I try to contain my surprise.

"Yes. One of the dam workers was murdered and dismembered."

_WHAT?!?_

"They still haven't found one of the culprits."

After a pause…."I see."

Another pause. Mion has resumed staring at the ground.

"Well, we should probably get out of here. It's kind of creepy being near the site of a murder, you know? The ghost of the worker might come to get us."

Mion looks up and smiles.

"Yeah, you might be right. Let's go."

I add in, "If he does come attack us though, I will protect you. It's the least I can do as your bodyguard."

She begins to laugh and we head back to town together. As we are walking I notice that she is again staring at the ground. Looks like she's having doubts.

"Hey, Mion."

"Yeah Mike-kun?"

I tell her what I'm feeling.

"I don't think any less of this village because of what happened in the past. Nor do I feel any less for the villagers. I'm not planning on running away or anything if that's what you're worried about. In fact, I think coming here was the best thing to happen in my life."

Mion's eyes light up. Her mouth opens up into a big smile and she jumps at me, embracing me around my chest.

"Really? Thank goodness! I'm so glad Mike-kun."

I am blushing heavily.

"Ha, yeah. Umm…ah…Mion….."

I can't think with her holding on to me like this. Apparently she finally realized what she was doing and quickly let go. She turns away from me, obviously embarrassed. As my own embarrassment goes away, I can't help but smile.

"It's nice."

"Hmmm? What was that?" She asks.

"Ah, nothing."

She lets it slide as she sees my smile.

"Oh, you like hugs do you?" She teases me.

I begin to blush again and look down.

"I love them."

We reach the Sonozaki family mansion. It's about 7:30 in the afternoon. Mion says that she is going to prepare dinner so I should go wait in my room. I do as she wishes. When I get to my room though, I find myself at a lack of anything to do.

_What am I supposed to do? Twiddle my thumbs for an hour?_

Being completely bored after ten minutes, I lie down on the ground and stare at the ceiling. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about the ceiling I was staring at, but what else could I do.

I begin to think of the murder I heard about earlier. For some reason, I felt like I already knew what Mion was going to say. Not just in the way of, "She's going to say a murder happened." It was more of a, "I know exactly what she's going to say before she says it," kind of thing. I felt like I already knew what happened in Hinamizawa. This all seems strange to me. I seem to know things about Hinamizawa before they are told to me.

_Have I lived here already? Why do I keep having these déjà vu-like experiences? This can't be a coincidence since it's been happening so much. I just can't figure out what it is. This is really starting to piss me off._

Then the thought comes to me.

_What if I knew about this world in my old world?_

The question lingers in my mind. I can't deny the possibility. Knowing my personality, I could probably be living out one of my fantasies.

Then it hits me, like the truck that was the cause of this all.

_What if this really is just a fantasy? What if I am really back in my world, dreaming this all up. Being hit by a truck like that. It wouldn't be surprising that I'm actually in a coma._

My thoughts hits me like a train and I begin to feel a great amount of pain in my heart. I don't want to believe that all this could be just a fantasy. I am living a life that I could never have had before. To have it all taken away from me would be a worse fate then dying. The more I think about this, the more the pain in my heart grows. I am nearly on the verge of tears when suddenly Mion comes in.

The instant she sees me, her face becomes full of worry and sadness. I reassure her that it has nothing to do with the murder and explain what it is about.

"It's possible Mike-kun. It's possible, but I don't think it's true."

"Why is that?"

I am rocking back and forth in her arms as she came to hold me when she saw how much pain I was in.

"Because I don't feel like I'm made up. I have feelings like you do. I can talk, I can reason, and I can feel pain. I am just as human as you are. I even believe I have a soul. I don't think you can give someone those things unless you are a god. Are you a god Mike-kun?"

"Of course not!"

"Then the only other explanation is that I truly am alive."

Her words bring me a great amount of comfort. I begin to calm down. I stop rocking back and forth and Mion releases me.

"Thank you Mion. I really appreciate you always being there for me."

She blushes.

"I-it's nothing. I'm just glad that I can be there when you need me. I'm really glad that you came to this world….Mike."

When she hesitates before saying my name I realize that I didn't use an honorific when I said her's. It was just a mess up on my part but if she is fine with it then I would rather leave off the honorific in the future.

"Anyways, it's time for dinner."

"Alright." I say as I get up with Mion.

We head off to the dining room for dinner. After dinner, I head back to my room. I wait in my room till it's my turn to take a bath. While in the bath, I do my best not to take up too much time as the Sonozaki's were gracious enough to give me a rather good place in the bath order. I was 3rd after Saburou-san, Mion's father. Akane was after me, followed by Mion.

After my bath I head to Mion's room to say good night. I knock on the door. I hear a "come in" and I enter. Mion is sitting in the middle of the room look at me as I enter the room.

"Uhh, I just came to say good night."

She smile.

"I'll be getting up early again tomorrow so I need to go to bed early as well."

She frowns, but it only lasts a second.

"I probably won't see you till after school." She says.

"Yeah probably. You can try coming by my room in the morning, but I'll likely be wiped out from training."

"I hope you sleep well then."

"Yeah, me too. Oh yeah, I'll probably head over to the school tomorrow to talk with the principal. If you aren't busy, I'll drop by and say hi, okay?"

She smiles warmly.

"Okay. Good night Mike. Sleep well.

"Night Mion. You sleep well too."

After saying my good night, I head back to my room. I pull out my futon and crawl into it. I'm sure I won't have much trouble getting into the school. All I need to worry about is training.

_I bet Shinji has spent his day thinking up a million ways to kick my ass tomorrow._

I frown at the thought.

"Ah well." I say to myself.

I close my eyes. My body is worn out from the day's activities so I find it easy to relax. My senses begin to shut off. I begin to fall asleep, but before I can, one thought pops into my head.

_What if all this isn't real?_

Then I smile.

_Of course it's real. I am no god. To create something this amazing would require the powers of one. If anything, God blessed me by sending me here._

The last thought I have before my mind finally shuts off is _thank you God_.


	5. Chapter 4: Getting Settled In

**Chapter 4: Getting Settled In**

When I arrived at the dojo this morning, Shinji was already there. He nodded his head to acknowledge me, and I do the same. It's about ten minutes till 5:00. I wanted to be early again so I woke up a bit earlier. _I'll need to go to bed even earlier then last night if I want to be able to make it through training like this._ I am a bit anxious about what we are going to be doing today. I'm curious if Shinji knows, but I am reluctant to ask him.

At 5:00 Oryou-Sensei enters the dojo. Shinji and I both walk over and bow to her. We both greet her with a quick, "Good morning Sensei," as we bow to her. Her expression doesn't change. She doesn't seem happy; nor does she seem angry. _This must be how she normally is_. She announces what kind of training we will be having today.

"Today we are going to test your ability in swordsmanship."

I am not completely familiar with sword techniques. I only know bits and pieces from what I've seen on television or in movies. I have always been fascinated with swordplay though. I am glad that I will probably be learning how to use a sword properly.

Sensei has me and Shinji grab a pair of shinai from a rack on the wall. It's a sword made out of bamboo; held together by strings. It is very light-weight and durable. It is the ideal practice sword. If I remember right, they are used in kendo.

Sensei has me and Shinji square off in the center of the dojo. Shinji takes on a fighting stance. I also take a stance. I'm not too sure about it though. I've only had a little bit of fighting experience before. It was mostly just messing around with friends and nothing really serious though.

Our fight begins. I decide to rush at him today since playing defense probably wouldn't be a good thing to do two days in a row. I am still cautious about my attacks though as I know that Shinji is a trained professional. If anything, I want to be able to hit him at least once today. Unfortunately, my first attempt wasn't going to cut it.

*Twack!*

I am struck hard on my back as I pass him. I begin to fall to the floor, but I am able to go into a roll and return to my feet quickly. I am surprised at how easily he was able to deflect my blow, and then to counter-attack. _This guy is a real pro. That seemed almost super-human to me. _I think to myself as I watch Shinji take a stance again. _I have to outsmart him somehow._ The only problem was how I was going to do so.

After a few seconds, Shinji charges at me. Our shinai crash together. Mine is pushed back quite a bit further then his, leaving me open for an attack. He slashes at my open spot, which I am able to defend luckily. He begins to bring his weapon back around for another slash. It is a vertical slash. As the bamboo sword comes down towards my head, I raise my own sword to block it. As our sword clash, I push with my right hand and shove the opposing sword off to the left. With his side undefended, I take the opportunity to try to "slash" his side with my sword. Just as my shinai is about to scrape against his side, he jumps back. I twist slightly to my right in order to swing my blade out and pursue the man that's trying to escape my attack. Unfortunately, he is able to swing his own blade in from the side and deflect the blow.

Our fight continues on like that for a while. I remain unable to connect a blow as he easily deflects everything I try. I am able to dodge his attacks and avoid being hit for the most part. He is far superior in skill and technique. My natural instincts and reflexes only serve to help me remain untouched for a mere thirty seconds at a time. After a while, I begin to pant excessively. Shinji stands there, barely even breathing hard. It is at this time that Sensei declares that training is finished for today.

Shinji and I bow to each other, and then to Sensei. As we head to the changing area, Shinji compliments me.

"I'm surprised. You are a lot better than most of the beginners I have fought. You seem to have quite a bit of natural talent."

"Thanks." I reply to him. "I'm no match for you though."

He chuckles.

"That is to be expected. I am looking forward to seeing you progress. You have a smart mouth, but you have a smart mind and a strong will. I respect that."

I rub the back of my head in embarrassment. "Thanks." I reply again.

After I change, I head back to the mansion. As I pass Mion's room I see the light on. Since it appears that she's up, I decide to knock. "Come in." the reply comes. I enter her room and see her in her casual school clothes. She once explained to me that their school doesn't have enough money to buy uniforms like other schools so the students were allowed to wear casual clothes to school.

"I saw your light on as I was passing so I thought I'd come and say hi before I head back to bed." I explain.

"I'm glad you did. I was just about to go to your room to see if you were still up."

We are both smiling.

"Have a good day at school Mion." I say.

"I will. I hope that you can get into the school without much problem. If there is then I might have to pull some strings for you."

I am touched that she would go that far for me, but I reply, "Its ok. If I can't get in, then that's just how it is."

"Yeah, I guess so." She says with a frown.

"I hope that you are free after I finish talking with the principal. I'd like to be able to come and say hi to you. Maybe you can introduce me to Rena, since I haven't had the chance to meet her yet."

"I hope so too. I'd be nice being able to see you at school. You'd also be able to tell me right away if you got in or not." She replies.

"Yeah, that would be nice. Anyways, I'm going to head to my room now. I'm pretty sore from training. I'll see you later."

"Alright, sleep well. See you later."

As I am about to leave she stops me. "Oh right, I forgot to ask you."

"What's up?" I ask.

"I was just curious about what you were going to do after you finish talking with the principal." She replies.

I think for a second since I haven't really thought about it myself.

I come up with, "I think I'll probably go into town to look and see if anyone is hiring."

"A job? Why do you want a job?" She asks.

"Why not?" I reply simply. "I have needs for money as well. I don't really intend to continue living here forever. I don't want to be a burden so I want to get a job so I can move out on my own."

Mion frowns. "Alright, I understand."

I turn to leave to room. Just as I am about to leave, I look back at Mion. She is still frowning and looking down at the floor. I begin to wonder what she's upset about. I end up standing in the doorway for a few seconds trying to think of what I should do or say to cheer her up. After a moment I come up with something and blurt it out without thinking.

"If you think you'll be lonely here if I move out, I wouldn't mind if you came to live with me."

I regret saying it for a second, but when I see her face light up, all my regret washes away like a soft stream flowing down from the mountain.

"Do you mean that?" She asks with excitement.

"Y-yeah. Of course. I wouldn't want Mion to be lonely. I would also be able to protect you better if you were closer to me." I reply as I scratch my head.

She comes running at me with a speed I've never seen before. Almost without my noticing, she has wrapped herself around me like she did yesterday. She is looking up at me and smiling. I can't help but blush. I wrap my arms around her in return. The feel of her pressing against my body is almost more then I can bear. I am unable to think about anything other than the girl here that I am holding in my arms.

We stand there for a few seconds, locked in each other's embrace. We then separate and turn our backs as we are both extremely embarrassed.

"Ah..ha…yeah…well…I-I'll be headed back to m-my room now. See you l-later Mion." I stutter out.

"Yeah..ah, see you later Mike."

I quickly start moving in the direction of my room. My heart is beating at a hundred beats per second. I am barely paying attention to where I am going and nearly knock a vase, full of flowers, over. Somehow, I make it back to my room. After I close the sliding door, I slide down and sit with my back to it. My mind is unable to concentrate on anything other than the hug I was given, not five minutes ago. All I am able to do is sit there on the ground, staring into space. _I think I'm in love._

When I wake up, my body feels much better than it did right after training. When I look at the clock on the room it reads 10:24. After I roll up the futon and put it away, I get dressed and ready to head to the school. I head to the kitchen to see if I can find something to eat. When I look into the refrigerator, I find some food wrapped in plastic wrap on a small plate. There is a piece of paper lying on top of it. It reads, "You probably won't be able to make your own breakfast so I made a little extra and stored it here. Feel free to have some when you get up Mike-kun. -Mion."

_Glad she thinks so little of me that I can't make my own breakfast. _I think as I sigh. _At least I don't actually have to make my own. I might as well enjoy her cooking. I'm going to have to think of a way to get her back later, though._

After finishing off the breakfast Mion made for me, I head out towards the schoolhouse. The road to the school is pretty much silent as I walk. Not many of the inhabitants of Hinamizawa seem to own cars, so I don't see any on the road. It takes me about ten minutes to reach the schoolhouse. I can see the students sitting in their seat through the window from where I'm standing, near the gate. I enter the building and walk down the hall to the room on the end of the hall. Though I have never been here before, I have a pretty good idea of where the principal's office is. As I walk down the hall, I reach a door on my left that I hear some voices coming out of. I can tell that this is the classroom door. I continue down the hall till I reach the last door. Not sure whether or not it would be appropriate to knock, I enter the room. "Excuse my intrusion." I announce my presence.

"Welcome to the Hinamizawa brand school. I am the principal here. How may I be of service?"

I explain my situation to the principal. I tell him who I am and why I am here.

"Ah, you're the mysterious boy that appeared out of nowhere." He thinks out loud.

"Yes sir. My name is Micheal." I reply.

"You say that you would like to transfer into this school?" He asks.

"Yes sir. I am seventeen years old and I believe that I still need to complete my education." I explain.

"I see. The only problem I see with this is that we don't have your records. Without them, we can't tell how much you have learned and how well you have learned it." He explains to me.

I become a bit disheartened. I should have realized this might have happened. All the records that I even exist are back where I came from. There is no way to get them.

"There might be something we can do though…." The principal says. "Are you free tomorrow?" He asks.

"I am. Why do you ask?"

He explains, "If you can come in tomorrow, we can have you do a proficiency test in order to determine how much you have learned. If you could come in at around this time tomorrow, that would perfect."

"Yes sir. I will come back tomorrow at around 11:30." I declare, rather excited.

"Very good. I will see you tomorrow then."

We both rise from our seats and shake hands. As I turn to leave, he speaks up again.

"You are residing in the Sonozaki household, are you not?" He asks.

"I am." I reply, confused as to why he is asking such a question and why it is relevant to anything.

"Ah well, it's almost time for lunch break. If you stick around a bit, you might be able to say hello to Mion-san." He explains.

Pleased, I reply, "Thank you sir. I'll make sure to hang around for a bit."

I leave the room and head out into the hall. A short while later, the principal comes out of his office with a bell. He rings the bell a few times, and then returns to his room. I can only assume this signals the start of lunch period. I think that it might be weird to just barge into the classroom out of nowhere so I decide to wait.

_Surely one of the kids will have to go to the bathroom or something._

Sure enough, after five minutes, Rika comes out into the hallway.

"Ah Rika. It's good to see you." I greet her as she approaches.

"Mii, Hello Mike-kun. How are you doing today?" She greets me.

"I'm doing well. How about you?" I ask.

"I'm doing well, as well. Nipah!" She says as she gives me a big smile.

I smile as well. I find Rika's childish antics very cute.

"Are you here to see Mii?" She asks me.

"Not originally, but the principal said that I could stick around since your guy's lunch break was coming up. Do you think you can call Mion out for me?"

"Mii, Sure I can, but can it wait for a second? I was just about to go potty." She replies.

Embarrassed, I reply, "Oh yeah. Go ahead. Sorry for holding you up."

After she has disappeared into the bathroom, I smack my forehead.

_Idiot._

After a minute or two, Rika comes back out. I follow her to the door of her classroom. Without any warning, she grabs my hand pulls.

"Rika, What are you…..?"

Before I can react, I am pulled into the classroom by Rika. By bursting out to Rika when she pulled me, I succeeded in drawing the attention of the whole class. With every face in the class staring at me, I scratch my head, completely embarrassed.

"Thanks Rika." I whisper sarcastically to the girl, still holding my hand.

She only looks up at me, gives me the biggest smile she can muster, and says, "Nipah!"

"Mike!" Mion stands up and walks over.

"Hey, Mion." I reply, somewhat robotically. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great! I'm glad that you could come."

_She obviously isn't getting to hint._

A young woman with blue hair comes over to us.

"Uh…Mion-chan? Think you could explain who this boy is?"

_Could this get any worse?_

"This is Mike-kun, Chie-Sensei. He's the one who's been staying with me at my place. You know, he's the boy who appeared out of nowhere?" She explains to her teacher.

At the mention of me being the one that appeared out of nowhere, the entire class gets up and crowds around me.

_Of course it can._

The children begin asking question after question. Though reluctant, I try to answer as much as I can, but the speed and the intensity, at which the questions are flying at me, is so great that I am overwhelmed in only twelve seconds. I end up stumbling around for words. "Ah…..ummm…."

Mion begins laughing at me when she sees my distress. I flash her a sour glance. She laughs again, but begins to clap her hands together.

"Okay, okay. Give him some air." She orders the class. I remember that she told me that she is the class rep. so it must be easy for her to get control of the raging children.

After a couple of seconds, the children begin to give me some space and return to their seats. Mion is standing in front of me with a big smiling like she just saved my life or something. I give her a sour look.

"Oh come on Mike. You have to admit that, that was funny."

I don't change my expression at all.

"Oh, don't be such a butthead!" She says as she gives me a pouting expression. I sigh.

"Fine." I give in to her. "I just came by to see how you were doing. I didn't really plan on coming into the classroom, but Rika here kinda kidnapped me.

Rika smiles and says, "Nipah!" Even though I am still mad at her, I end up smiling. I can't seem to resist doing so when she acts that cute.

"Yeah well, I'm glad she did." Mion replies. She beckons me to come and sit down at a desk. I follow and pick a seat next to her. At the table sits, Mion, Satoko, Rika, who just sat down, a girl in a white dress, and me. Mion introduces me.

"Mike, this is Rena." She then turns to the girl. "Rena, this is Mike."

I greet her, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

She greets me with, "Rena is pleased to make your acquaintance, she is."

From what I heard from Mion, Rena is a girl that finds random objects and people "cute" and promptly decides to take said item or person home with her. Mion told me that she almost got away with Rika once. Remembering this makes me chuckle.

After we finish greeting each other, Mion begins to ask me the questions I'm sure she's been waiting to ask since I came in.

"So, how did it go with the principal?"

Everyone around the table seems to scoot in a little closer in order to make sure they hear the answer.

"Well, he said that it might be a problem since there is no way to recover my records…" I explain.

Everyone's expressions turn to ones of sadness.

I continue, "…but he said that if I come in tomorrow, that I could take a proficiency test to see where I would fit in."

Instantly, everyone's faces brighten back up.

"That's great Mike!" Mion says.

Trying not to let her hopes up too much I reply, "It's not a sure thing that I'll be able to join."

"Of course it is! That test is only to tell which grade level you are supposed to be in. It's like a hundred percent guarantee to get in." She replies like its common knowledge.

"Maybe I'm actually too smart and end up scoring at a college level. I don't think I would be allowed to become a student here if that were the case."

Mion begins laughing.

"What's so funny?" I ask her.

"You think too highly of yourself Mike." She states in a teasing manner.

"Hey, I'm just saying. It could happen. If it does then don't blame me." I reply.

"Well then you will just need to throw the test then."

Surprised by her answer I reply, "What? I can't do that. What if I end up a couple grades lower then where I'm supposed to be? What if I mess up and end up having to repeat Jr. high School or something? It would be humiliating."

Mion smiles. "If that does happen then I will take responsibility and help you with any work you get so you don't have to do it."

As this argument has been pretty much just between Mion and I, Rena, Rika, and Satoko have remained quiet and listened. Rena decides to chime in now though.

"Mii-chan, I don't think it would be a good idea for Mike-kun to throw the test like that. It's something that's too important. Besides, I'm sure Mike-kun will be able to join us. He'll probably end up being in our grade too."

Rika also decides to chime in. "Mii, Even if Mikey really is a genius, he can still come by after school and join our club activities. I don't think Chie-Sensei would prohibit it."

I decide to ignore the fact that Rika called me "Mikey". Mion still doesn't seem convinced so I tell her what I think will happen.

"I'm sure it will be fine. I know that I'm smart, but I'm no genius. I think that you're over-reacting. Like Rika says; I'll probably be able to join in on club activities even if I don't get in so lighten up Mion. It's really depressing to see you so down like this."

I don't know why I added that last part, but everyone seemed to figure something out about us just then.

Satoko decides to go first. "He's right Mion. Even if this all goes bad and he can't join us, he'll still be there for you to hold when you get home."

_I didn't say that!_

"Mii, Mikey would never let anything bad happen. If Mii is upset about something, he can come and give her a big kiss and make it all better. Nipah!"

Both Mion and I are blushing like crazy. Mion is trying frantically to get them to believe that they have the wrong idea.

Rena bursts out with, "Mike and Mii, They're soo cute! I want to take them home!!!"

"No guys, seriously! You have the wrong idea! Mike and I aren't like that. Come on Mike, tell them!" She turns to me, frantic for help.

I think about telling them that it's really Mion that has a crush on me, but I'm afraid I might just end up hurting her so I decide to do the opposite.

"You guys have it all wrong. We truly aren't like that. Mion is just a good friend of mine. It's not like she's in love with me or anything. I'm the only one with those kind of feelings."

Everyone freezes. I know exactly what I said, and I intended to say it out load so everyone could hear it. I just confessed my love for Mion.

I look at Mion. She has brought her arms up to her chest and is standing there, dumbfounded. Her mouth is hanging open. Even though my cheeks are burning like a huge bonfire, I stare her straight in the eyes and repeat myself.

"Mion, I love you. We've gotten pretty close over these past few weeks, and maybe I'm moving too fast, but I really do love you. I really don't want to hide my feelings for you. I just hope that I haven't made a mistake by doing this."

Mion is only able to stand there. She is in complete shock. After a second or two, she starts to say something, but is obviously having great difficulty. My heart is pounding faster than it ever has before. Both because I just admitted my feelings and because I am scared to death that she will reject me. If I were to say what the most terrifying thing in the world is, I would say something similar to this situation.

Mion is still trying to find words, but is apparently still in shock. She is looking around. I can tell that she doesn't want to have everyone else hear what she's trying to say. Just as I am thinking this, I feel a pressure pushing me from behind.

I look behind me to see Rika. Confused, I ask, "Rika, what are you…?"

She says nothing. She has a big smile on her face. She seems to be pushing me towards the door. I look at Mion and Rena is doing the same to her.

_I see. It looks like Mion has some pretty good friends that really care for her._

We are both pushed out into the hallway. The door is shut, right after we are pushed out so we can't get back in. We are being forced to face each other.

"You want to head outside for a bit?" I ask trying to find a way to help her relax.

A small, "Okay." was all she could muster.

We head out behind the school so we can have some privacy. Mion's entire face is red and she is fidgeting all over the place. I seemed to have calmed enough to talk normally. I look up at her. As soon as our eyes meet she turns away.

_She just as scared as I am._

I don't know what to say, so I remain quiet. After a little while she tries again. "Mike I…." She hesitates. I smile at her in an effort to give her comfort. She takes a couple of deep breaths until she seems to relax a little. She takes one last breath before yelling, "MIKE, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!!!"

I am completely surprised by her statement. I am unable to reply. I stand there with my mouth open. I make an attempt to say something, "I….don't…..underst….." She cuts me off. "Shut up!" I don't know what to say. My heart is about to explode. My darkest fear is being realized.

_I really did it this time. I really fucked it up._

I am in complete despair, but as I look at Mion, I see that she looks like she is about to cry. "Mion." She is quivering. "Mike…I-I'm sorry. I'm being stupid. I-it's just that this has never happened before."

"Mion, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have done that. I should have waited for a better time. I should have thought it through rather than just go with what my heart told me." I try to comfort her to the best of my ability.

"No Mike. You haven't done anything wrong. I'm the one that's being stupid." She replies. "I just don't know how to handle it."

I try to let her know what I feel, "I don't think that you are at fault. If I hadn't done something like this then I wouldn't have hurt you and…" She cuts me off.

"Hurt me?!? What are you talking about? I'm the happiest I have ever been! I'm so happy that I have no idea what to do with myself. For you to work up the courage to confess your love for me in front of everyone, its…its…amazing!!!"

All the fear and the pain in my heart disappear in an instant. Happiness fills my heart.

Mion mutters something.

"What?" I ask.

After a short pause she repeats herself, "I don't deserve you." Tears begin to flow down her face. I finally realize why she is acting like this. She can't accept me because she thinks that I am better than her. She probably thinks that I deserve better.

"Mion." I walk up to her. She has dropped down to her knees. Her hands are covering her face as she cries. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She repeats.

I drop down on my knees in front of her. She notices and looks up into my face. I lift up my hand, slide it across her cheek, and rest it on the back of her head. I move in closer, while lightly pulling her closer. She does not resist. She may think that she is not worthy of me, but she wants this more than anything in the world. Our lips draw in closer and closer till finally they meet. Time stops. We hold our lips together for what seems like an eternity. Naturally, the only thought in my mind is that I never want this moment to end. Finally, after what seemed like a century, our lips part. Her tears have stopped and she stares into my eyes. They begin again though. I realize that this time, they are tears of happiness.

She lunges at me; wrapping her arms around me. I am lying on my back with her on top of me. Again my heart is beating like a drummer, gone mad. This time, she takes the initiative and brings her lips to mine. We kiss again. This time doesn't seem to last quite as long, but it was amazing nonetheless.

"Mion, you have no idea how glad you have made me."

She giggles. "I can say the same thing about you Mike."

A funny thought comes to my head and I voice it to her. "Good thing we didn't end up having to do this in class."

She chuckles. "We would never hear the end of it.

"I don't think that we're going to hear the end of this anyways." I reply.

She puts on a sour expression. "You're right."

"Oh well. I'd say that it's worth it. How about you?" I ask.

"Nah, I don't think I'll be able to live with the teasing I'm going to get." She says teasingly.

"Oh come on." I reply.

"No, you don't know Mike. It's totally different for you since you're new."

"Oh fine. If you really feel that way, then I guess it can't be helped. If only you had something to protect you from such things though. Maybe something like a bodyguard."

She giggles. "Yeah, if only I had a bodyguard. All my life's worries would be over."

"I'm sure that bodyguard would try his hardest to do just that for you."

Mion lies her head down on my chest. "I'm sure he would." We lie there together for several minutes, enjoying each other's company. I let my mind wander. After a second, I regret it letting it do so. "Ah man. You still have class. Lunch break is probably almost over."

She wines to me. "I don't want to go. I'm sure they'll be fine without me."

"Yeah, it's totally fine if the class rep. skips school just to be with a boy." I reply sarcastically. I don't want her to leave either, but it can't be helped. "You haven't even gotten the chance to eat your lunch, Mion."

"This is more important." She replies simply.

_Can't argue with that._

"You still have to go though." I say to her.

She begins to pout. "Come on Mion. Just because you have discovered love, doesn't mean that you can abandon responsibility."

She sighs. "Alright, alright. If you really want me to leave that badly, then it can't be helped."

"It's not that I don't want you with me right now. To the contrary actually. All I want to do is hold you in my arms."

She smiles. "I know. I feel the same way."

Finally we break free from each other. I get up and offer her a hand. She takes it and I lift her up with ease. We are both thinking the same thing as we are about to part. Acting upon it, I move in a little bit closer, and she does the same. We kiss. It was a short one, but it was still enough to make my heart skip a beat. I see her off and find myself standing alone behind the schoolhouse. Though I am sad that Mion needed to return to her class, I am ecstatic about the fact that I was able to confess my love and have it go well. Not just that though. I was able to confess it in front of all her friends. _It was perfect. I don't think I could have asked for a better situation._

After I am able to collect myself, I remember what my second goal was for the day. I have to head to Okinomiya and look for a job. _Not like I was planning on telling Mion this, but I was planning on using some of the money on buying chocolates or flowers for her._

The walk to Okinomiya takes about an hour. As I walk through town, I see many shops and stores. Ever so often, I would see one with a hiring sign in the window. I didn't take long to find a job that would be good for me.

The owner of the store is an old man. Though he appears old on the outside, I can see that he still has a great amount of strength left in him. He operates an antique shop. He says that he is looking for someone with a strong back, but is careful enough to not destroy his rare antiques. I tell the man that I am willing to work for him and that I believe that I have a strong enough back for the job. The only problem is that I have no idea what to tell him about being careful. I ask him if there is a test of some sort that I can do to prove I can be careful. He simply laughs. He tells me that I will be fine and that I'm hired.

"What time can you work?" He asks me.

"I will probably be having school till around 4:00 or 5:00 so after that I guess." I answer.

"I see. That being the case, I would like you to come in around 6:00 and work till 10:00. Does that work with you?" He asks.

"That should be fine." I answer.

"Good. Don't worry if you mess up. I'll make sure to straighten you out if you do." He says as he whacks me on the head with a pair of chopsticks.

With my second objective complete, I need only to return back home. It's only about 2:30, so Mion should probably be home in a couple of hours. I ponder if she will cancel club activities in favor of coming to see me. _I really hope that she doesn't. She mustn't neglect the other parts of her life for me._

I don't encounter much people on the way back to the Sonozaki household. I think as I walk. I recall what happened today. I remember how Mion looked in the classroom and how her friends were there to help her. I wonder about my old life and if I had any friends like that, that I left behind. The thought is kinda sad. My mind wanders back to the events of today. Suddenly I remember something. It's something that I didn't really take notice of before because I was busy thinking about other things. There was someone extra today. I am sure about it. She was following behind Rika the whole time too. I'll have to talk to Rika about it later.

The moment after I think that, I fall to the ground. Out of nowhere, a great pain has started to emit from my back. The pain is overwhelming. It feels like something is trying to force its way out of my back from the inside of me. I roll on the ground. It is the only thing I can do in my position. The pain starts to subside after a minute. As it does, I can more accurately pinpoint location of the pain. It seems to be originating from my upper back, just at the base of my neck. It feels like two hot rods of steel are inside my back and are trying to make their way out my poking and burning through the skin. After about five minutes the pain has subsided enough that I can move again.

I have no idea what happened to me or why it happened. I can't think of any possible cause for this. I make a mental note that I need to go see Irie-Sensei to see if he can figure out what it was. All I can hope is that it won't ever happen again.

I resume walking and my pain resides completely. It takes me about forty-five minutes to make it back to the Sonozaki residence. When I get there, I head to my room and fix some tea. After the tea becomes ready, I pour myself some and have a drink of it. It helps to soothe me. My mind feels a little more relaxed. I am thankful for having it in my room. After a few hours of doing nothing I hear someone come in. "I'm home!" Mion calls out. I head out into the hallway to greet her. When she sees me, she comes up and gives me a hug.

"How'd it go with your friends?" I ask.

"As well as can be." She replies, seemingly exhausted. "I kept most of the fine details down to a minimum."

I chuckle. "I bet. They don't really need to know the fine details of our relationship anyways."

Mion agrees with me. "Luckily I was able to get off with a basic explanation, but I'd be careful tomorrow if I were you."

"Why is that?" I ask.

"Because what details they were unable to get from me, they will probably try to get from you." She explains.

"I see. Looks like I'm going to have to put my training to some good use then, huh?"

She laughs. "Yeah, it might just come down to that. Anyways, I need to go prepare dinner. I'll call you when it's finished."

"Alright." I reply.

We hug again quickly and she heads off. I go back into my room and wait for dinner time. When dinner time comes, we eat together with the rest of the family. I mostly listen to the other's conversations. Occasionally a question would be directed at me, and I would answer to the best of my ability.

After dinner, the bath is prepared. My turn comes up and I take my bath. When I finish, I head to Mion's room to say good night. After I explain my reasons for coming, we talk a little about what happened today. After I tell her about my getting a job, I ask her about what we should do about her parents. She tells me that they won't have a problem with it.

"What about Sensei?" I ask.

"I'm sure Baa-chan will be okay with it. If anything, it gives you more of a reason to protect me." She says.

"Perhaps, but I doubt I will feel comfortable telling her." I voice my concerns.

"It will be ok. We can tell them together, tomorrow." She replies.

"Okay, I'll try to see if I can work up the courage to do it."

She giggles. "I'm sure you'll be able to do it. I've already seen you do it once today."

We both smile.

"I should head back to my room now. I still have to wake up early tomorrow." I tell her reluctantly.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. Good night Mike."

"Good night Mion. Sleep well." 

We embrace and kiss one last time for the day before I head back to my room. I am excited about what tomorrow will bring. As I lie in my futon, I think about all the things that have been happening in my life. _I am soo blessed to be here._ I thank God for giving me such blessings. Not shortly after, my mind shuts off, and I fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 5: The Start of a Brand New Life

**Chapter 5: The Start of a Brand New Life**

Today's training is different than the past two days. When I reach the dojo, Shinji tells me that I won't need to change into my uniform. Instead, I find that we are leaving today, and going to a place that is better suited for today's training. When Sensei arrives, she has Shinji and I follow her to a car. After a twenty minute drive into Okinomiya, we stop in front of what seems to be a shooting range. _I see. Today we are going to test my skills with a gun. _I am excited.

When we enter the building, the manager greets Sensei with a polite, "Welcome, Oryou-sama." I guess that the Sonozaki family probably owns this shooting range. The manager turns to me. "This must be your new pupil."

I bow to the man. "I am Micheal. It is a pleasure to meet you."

After we exchange greetings, Shinji takes me off into a side room. He tosses me some gear. "Here," he says as he throws it. I catch it, as it comes within reach. I examine what has been thrown at me. In my hands, I hold a bullet-proof vest, a pair of safety glasses, and some earmuffs. I have seen some cop shows before and they seem to where the same gear during their practice as well. I quickly put the gear on and follow Shinji out to the armory.

He hands me a handgun and some extra clips. He then instructs me to take a position at the range. I set my clips down on the counter and take aim down the range. As I do, a paper target drops down in front of me.

It is about ten feet away from me. I line the sites up on the number ten, placed at the center or the paper target's chest, and pull the trigger. The trigger doesn't budge. _Forgot the safety._ I examine the gun a little before I find a small switch near the back of the gun. I flip it and return to my aiming. Right as I am about to pull the trigger, I tighten my grip of the gun as to not lose grip of it when it recoils. I proceed to pull the trigger. Thankfully, this time, the gun fires. The gun kicks back a little and I quickly bring it back down. I see that my shot is pretty accurate. I am able to hit the target on the ten. Pleased with my shot, I begin to take aim again.

I repeat the process of aiming, tightening my grip, and pulling the trigger. Each time I am able to hit the target on the ten. After about ten shots, my gun only clicks when I pull the trigger. I pull it again to test it, and it clicks again. It's obvious at that point that I'm out of bullets so I press the clip release, catch the clip as it falls, and place it on the counter, opposite the full clips.

As I am about the load my second clip I feel a presence behind me. I turn my head to the side to look at who it is, through my peripherals. It's Shinji. I lift a side of my earmuffs.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I just came to give you a little instruction." He replies. "This next clip; try to take less time aiming and more time firing. In a live situation, your target isn't going to give you time to take an accurate shot at him."

"Alright." I reply, seeing his point.

After I have loaded my second clip, I take aim again. This time I don't give myself the time to make my shots accurate. As soon as the barrel comes down, I fire again. After my ten shots are gone, I look at my target to see how I did. Surprisingly, I was able to hit the target in the ten a couple of times. About two shots hit the nine, and one hit the eight. I am still pleased with the results as this is still my first time.

Again, as I am reloading, Shinji come up from behind me. As he does, I see the target begin to retract into the ceiling and another drop down in its place. This time the target is about twenty feet away. Shinji tells me what is already obvious to me.

"From now on, after you finish two clips, a new target will come down. It will be ten feet farther back than the previous." He explains.

"Alright." I reply.

I am enjoying myself as I fire at the targets. I think I was actually thinking about doing something like this for my eighteenth birthday, back in my world. It is harder to hit the targets that are farther away, I manage to avoid missing it completely. Even at the farthest distance, I manage to hit it will all of my bullets. Though, one wasn't even on any of the point values, I still hit the target itself though.

After I have run out of clips, Shinji comes back out. He tells me to bring the gun and clips back in. I flip the safety back on, grab the spent clips, and head back to the armory. When I finish turning them into the armory, Shinji hands me a sub machine gun. _Great._ I am glad that I was able to use a handgun, but I'm not to certain about using an SMG. It's not likely that I'll end up using one to protect Mion anyways. I begin to wonder if Sensei is actually thinking about training me as an assassin or something. I decide not to argue and proceed to repeat the process I just went through with the handgun.

I am surprised at how well I am able to handle the gun. At close range I am able to hit the target, a fair amount, in the center. From my starting shots, there is a little trail going up the target, but after those few shots, I was able to find the right amount of pressure to control it. The remaining shots were well centered, and I was able to create a semi-round circle in the target. I had a bit more difficulty at the greater distances, but I was still able to do fairly well. On my last target, I was unable to hit every shot though. I ended up missing two shots. Shinji comes back and we head to the armory again. I hand my weapon and clips in, glad I remembered to flip the safety, and turn to Shinji. He tells me that this is all we are going to do today. After I finish changing out of my safety gear, I follow Shinji into a room with a large glass window that overlooks the range. Sensei and the manager are looking over a number of paper targets; mine of course. Each one is labeled with a distance.

When Sensei turns to us, we bow to her. Sensei walks up to me and asks, "Have you had any training with arms before now Mike-kun?"

"I have not." I reply. "This is my first time handling guns."

"Hmm…" She thinks to herself.

The manager speaks up, "If that's true then it seems that you have quite a bit of natural talent for small arms."

After a brief conversation about how well I did, Sensei announces that training is done for the day. We head back to the car and drive back to the mansion. When we arrive, I head back to my room. I am not tired today, since firing guns isn't quite as physically taxing as hand-to-hand combat, so I don't really need to sleep any longer. The clock in my room reads 10:11 a.m._ Training took a while today._ _I still have a bit of time before I go.  
_

I decide to go check the refrigerator. There is a plate of food with a note on it, like yesterday. _Hope training went well today. Good luck with your test. Hope you enjoy your breakfast. –Mion. _I am glad that she didn't put something similar to yesterday's note.

I don't mind how she acts tomboyish sometimes. I think that's how she is normally, so I feel like I want her to act like that more when I'm around. I do find it funny when I tease her about something and she punches me in the arm or something. It makes me laugh.

After I finish the breakfast Mion made for me, I head out towards the school, eager to do my test. I arrive around 10:50. When I enter the principal's office, I see him sitting at his desk. We greet each other and promptly get down to business. He hands me a packet and a pencil. He tells me that I can take it wherever I like, so I decide to move out into the hall, as to not disturb him. I flip through the pages to see what I am up against. The packet isn't as small as I first thought. It is about thirty pages. It looks like about three pages per subject.

I begin to take my test. The first subject I need to do is math. Most of the work seems pretty simple enough. I have always excelled at math. Near the end of the math section I come across many problems that I don't know. I am forced to make guesses as to how to solve them. After math, comes English. I find this subject pretty easy. When I look at the words, written in English, I can easily tell that I was originally from a country that speaks English. I wonder how I learned Japanese, since I likely grew up in an English speaking country.

I continue to take the test for what seems like hours. If I think about it, I am sure that it has to have been at least two hours since I started.

I finally finish the test and stand up to turn it in to the principal. Just as I am about to grab the doorknob, the door opens. The principal is standing there with his bell in hand.

"Finished?" He asks me.

"Yep." I reply as I make way for him.

He rings the bell a couple of times, signaling the end of school. I follow him as he walks back to his room. I hand him the test when he sits down.

"Very good. I will grade your test now. You may stick around if you like. If not, then you can come in tomorrow. It will probably take about an hour for me to grade it and assess what level you are at." He explains.

"I'll stick around till then." I reply.

"Very well. I will let you know when I finish."

I leave the room so he can grade my test. I can see many of the younger students heading towards the doorway. I'm curious if Mion and her friends are having club activities today so I decide to enter the classroom. I see Mion, Rena, Rika, and Satoko sitting together. They have pulled four desks together to create a make-shift table. They are all looking at the door to see who has intruded on their club activities. Rika is the first to speak.

"Well if it isn't Mikey. Nipah!"

"What brings you here today Micheal-kun?" Satoko asks.

"Ah well, I just finished my test, so the principal is grading it. He said that he will be done in about an hour and that I could stick around till then if I wanted. I was wondering if you guys were having club activities today so I came to check it out." I explain.

Mion gets up and walks over to me. She looks extremely happy that I stopped by.

"You don't you join us Mike? If you're going to join the club, it's better to do it now rather than later, right?" She asks.

"I suppose." I reply.

She grabs my hand and drags me over to the "table". I grab a seat and sit on the end.

"First off, tell us how you did." Mion orders.

"Okay well, I think I did well on it. There were a couple of questions in each subject that I was unable to answer, but not too many. If I were to make a guess, I'd say that it's likely that I will be able to get in."

Everyone's faces light up.

"That's great!" Mion declares.

"Yeah. I really hope that I do get in. I'd rather be here, doing something useful, then at your place, doing nothing." I reply.

"Are you sure that you don't want to get in just so you can be with Mion-san all the time?" Satoko teases.

"Nah, I just love the scenery here. Its soooo boringly, bland at Mion's place. You can pretty much count every color there, since there's so few." I reply sarcastically.

"IT IS NOT!" Mion roars out.

"Mii, I'll make sure to never go over to Mii's house then. I might just die from all the blandness." Rika says.

"Ohohoho! I don't know how you can stand it Mike-kun. I would never be able to stand such a boring environment. I would go crazy!" Satoko adds.

Its Rena's turn, "Rena doesn't think she would be able to live in a place if it was that boring. I wonder how Mii-chan has lived there for soo long, I wonder."

"Mike, you butthead! Look what you did!" Mion complains to me.

We all start laughing except for Mion, who has begun to pout. Rika suggests something to change to mood.

"How about we have a game now? Mii can take her frustration out on Mikey then."

Suddenly Mion's expression changes to one of a devil.

"Excellent idea Rika." She says as she chuckles to herself.

I get a little worried at her expression. "Ah, we're here to have fun right? How 'bout we just try to do that, okay?" I suggest.

She begins laughing. "It seems you are misunderstanding Mike-kun. Rule number one: Only aim for the top, just playing is unforgivable!"

Satoko adds in, "Rule number 2: To get to the top, you're allowed to do anything you want!"

"Geez, sounds like I'm about to enter a battle or something." I sigh.

"Since this is your first time Mike, we will play something that everyone knows." Mion announces. "Old Maid."

_Sounds simple enough. I just have to be lucky enough to not get passed the old maid or to pick it up._

As Mion searches through the locker for the cards, she explains, "The loser must obey the winner. This is how we do things. Got it Mike?"

"Got it." I reply.

_It's a gamble, but if I win I can have them do what I wish._

After shuffling the deck, Mion deals the cards out to everyone. I pick up my hand and examine my cards. I notice something about the cards themselves though.

"These cards look pretty old. Some of them have some pretty unique scratches and such on them. Do you guys play with them often?" I ask.

"Oh yes. We play with them quite often." Mion replies.

Suddenly a thought comes to me. "Hey, you guys couldn't have memorized what cards are which by the scratches on them, could you?" I ask.

Each of the girl's expressions turns sinister.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!" I exclaim.

Satoko repeats what she said earlier, "Rule number 2: You are allowed to do ANYTHING to win."

_Man, what did I get myself into?_

I sigh. "Alright, let's do this!" I say, as I put on a serious expression. I hope they are just lying about memorizing the cards, and are just trying to psyche me out.

After about seven games, I realize how futile it is. I have been singled out every game. I am unable to do anything as all four of the girls have completely memorized the deck, by the unique scratches on each card. Mion begins to snicker.

"I can name off all your cards Mike."

She proceeds to do so, in exact order. I let my head fall to the desk.

"Kill me now."

I second later, I feel a pat on my head. I turn my head to see Rika has begun to pat me on the head to comfort me.

"It's okay Mikey. You can do it. Nipah!"

Though I do a bit comforted by Rika, I am still unable to see a way out of this. The game ends in total defeat on my part. I am completely outmatched. Rena suggests to Mion, "Maybe we shouldn't play with such beat up cards so Mike-kun has a chance."

Mion chuckles. "Nah, its fine. What good is it for Mike to go to training every day, if he can't handle being beaten in a simple game like this?"

I reply sarcastically, "Not even training with Oryou-Sensei can prepare me for this. This is like trying to fight an invading army with a fork."

Everyone laughs, except for me.

"Oh, don't be so down Mike. I won't make you do anything too bad, since it's your first time." She states like it will make me feel better.

I sigh. "Alright, what do I have to do?" I ask.

She rests her chin on her fist as she thinks. "Hmm….Let me see." After a few seconds. "Ah, I know!"

_I don't like where this is going._

"You have to stand on your head and sing _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_ twenty times." She declares.

"What if I pass out from all the blood rushing to my head?" I ask.

"Then you will have to start over when you wake up. Do it fast, so you don't pass out, okay?" She replies happily.

"Glad to know you care so much." I reply sarcastically.

Wanting to get it over with as fast as I can I prepare for my task. I tuck my shirt in so it doesn't fall down. I then go up to a wall, and flip myself up onto it. I let myself slide down so my head is resting on the floor. I begin sing as fast as I can. Mion complains.

"No, Mike. You're doing it too fast. We can barely tell what you're saying."

I start over again, but at a slower tempo. She doesn't complain this time so I continue with my punishment. It truly feels like that to me, since all the girls are watching me and making stupid comments. I feel quite embarrassed. I am unsure if my cheeks are red from embarrassment or from the blood rushing to my head. After about twelve times through, the principal walks in.

"Ah, thank God." I say, relieved.

"Hold on Mike! I'll take care of it." Mion says to me as I am about to quit. She then turns to Rena, "Make sure he finishes."

Rena reply's with a short, "Okay."

I continue my singing, even more embarrassed that the principal had to see me like this. Mion sits back down by the time I'm at the fourteenth repetition. Rena fills her in on which on I am at. I continue on till I reach my last one. At this point I am starting to feel dizzy. Feeling like I might pass out soon, I speed through my last repetition of the song and promptly fall to the floor. I roll over so I am not breathing in the dust on the floor. Mion complains again.

"Ah come on Mike, You sped up on the last one."

"Give me a break Mion. I was just about to pass out." I reply.

I'm starting to have second thoughts about who I chose to fall in love with.

"What do you guys think?" She asks the others.

"Mii, I think Mikey has done enough." Rika replies.

Satoko voices her opinion, "I think he's had enough. You don't want him to actually pass out do you?"

I lift my head to see Mion's reaction. She looks at me as I do. She then replies, "No. I'd rather he didn't. It wouldn't be good for him."

Rena decides to point out the obvious about me. "Look. Mike-kun's face is all red, like a tomato." They all laugh. She then adds. "He's soo cute! I want to take him home!"

Mion is about to say something, but I interject. "Good luck with that. If you can lift me, then more power to you, but if you start dragging me, I'll fight back."

This time Rena is the one left out of the laughter, as she puts on a pouting face. I am curious about how I did on the test so I lift myself up to a sitting position. I regret doing so though as my vision begins to spin and I feel light-headed. I let myself fall back down. Right as my vision leaves the girls, I think I see another girl in the group. My head hits the floor with a low *thump*. I lie there for a second, still dizzy.

The girls rush over, obviously concerned. They all ask, "are you okay?" and stand around me. Mion sits next to me and takes my hand.

"Are you alright Mike?" She asks, after I am able to focus on her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy." I reply.

She still has a very worried look on her face. _At least I know she still cares. _I smile at her to ease her worries and her face changes to a smile as well. I try to sit back up again, but am pushed down by Mion.

"What are you doing? Lie there for a second. I don't want you to fall over again." She orders.

_It seems she has a motherly side to her as well._

I reply, "How can I fall over when I have you here by my side?"

She blushes. I realize that what I said had a bit of a romantic feel to it. I try one more time to sit up, and she lets me. I go up slowly this time since I really don't want to fall back over, even if Mion is there to support me. She helps me up by pressing on my back. When I am in a sitting position, I take a look around the room; specifically towards Rika. The extra girl is nowhere to be seen. _I could have sworn…_

After a couple of seconds, I am allowed to stand up. Again, Mion is there to support me, as well as the rest of the club members.

"Thanks guys. I appreciate your help." I tell them.

We walk over to the "table" where Mion set the test. I begin to go through it. Most of the first pages are unmarked except for a number at the top. _Must be total for the page._ Many questions have red circles around the question number. After going through the whole packet, I turn it to the back. Originally it was blank, but the principal has seemed to write a note on the back. I read it out loud, _After reviewing your test I have found you to be at a Junior in High School level. If you wish, you may begin attending this school, starting tomorrow, to finish your education._

The girls rejoice and I smile.

"Mii, it looks like Mikey will become one of us now." Rika says.

"Ohohoho, looks like I have someone to test my trap making skills on now." Satoko adds.

"Rena is happy that Mike-kun is coming to our school now, she is!" Rena states.

Mion says nothing, but it is obvious that she is very happy.

"Thanks everyone. I can't wait to start school with all of you. What do you mean by traps though Satoko?"

She again gives that sinister laugh of hers again, "Ohohoho, you'll see Mike-kun. You'll see."

Everyone laughs.

When I look at the clock I see that it's about 5:00. I announce that I need to get going for my job. As I leave, I wave goodbye to everyone. Mion is following me out the door. Just as I am about to exit the room I see her; the extra girl. She is there behind Rika. I can't say that she is standing there, as it seems to me that she is actually floating. I also notice that she is transparent. I blink a couple of times and look again. She's still there.

"What's wrong Mike." Mion says to me since I've stopped.

I am pulled back to reality. "Nothing, thought I saw something." I say as I exit the room. Mion follows me to the end of the hall. I turn to her and tell her that I'll see her later tonight. She is staring down a little bit. Concerned I ask her. "What's wrong?"

She replies, "Do you think that I was a little harsh today?"

"Harsh, how so?" I ask.

"You know, with the game and all. It wasn't really fair to you." She replies.

"Mion, its fine." I try to comfort her. "I wasn't really upset at all. I was just messing around."

"I know, but I was thinking that I should act more like my usual self when with the others. I wasn't sure if you would like how I treat you when I do, but I didn't know what to do with everyone else there."

Though she is being serious I chuckle.

"Mion, you're being ridiculous. Are you really that insecure? I don't care how you act. I'm not going to take it personally. Besides, I want you to act normally. I don't want you to have to put a mask on every time we're together. If you did, I would never get to know the real Mion, and that would make me really sad."

She smiles.

"So you were even okay with the punishment game?" she asks.

"Pssh, that. That was nothing. I could do that a million times a day. Compared to what Sensei has me do, that's nothing."

She giggles and lunges to embrace me. I grab her as she comes and uses her momentum to spin her around. After we stop spinning, I bring my lips in and we kiss. We release each other and I tell her, "good bye." I am sad to leave her, but I need to get to my job. Before I do though, I say to her, "Don't worry about the punishment games. I'll be a man and accept them. Maybe one day, I'll beat you. If that day comes I'll have to get you back for all the other days.

She begins to laugh. "Okay, Mike. I'll have to think up some real good ones for you then."

I wave to her and turn my back to leave. She calls out to me though.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Well, I was just thinking that since you'll be a part of the club from now on, that you will need a faster way to get to your job." She replies.

"I'm fine with walking, but if you have a good solution, I'd like to hear it." I reply to her.

"Ah well, I could bring my bike to school and you could use it to ride into Okinomiya."

"That's really thoughtful. I'd really appreciate that Mion."

She blushes.

"Anyway, I'll see you later. I'll probably be home around 11:00 so I won't be able to make it for dinner. We might need to change the bath order around as well."

She frowns. "We were going to tell my parents about us today."

I frown as well. "I know. I'm sorry. I might be able to figure something out though."

Mion then says, "We don't have club activities every day. Sometimes I have to go to work too. Maybe on one of those days, we can tell them."

I am surprised to hear that Mion has a job too. She never mentioned it before.

"That sounds good. I'll tell my boss that I would be able to come in earlier on those days." I reply.

"Alright. Work hard. I'll save some dinner for you."

"Okay, I will. Bye Mion." I call out.

On my way to Okinomiya, I think about how things went today in club. I was happy to be able to join in with them, even though I was completely singled out. I am also glad that I am going to be able to start attending the school starting tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun. Another thought comes to mind as well. I remember the extra girl who is constantly hanging around Rika. She looked to be about Rika's age. She was completely transparent, and was floating, instead of standing, so I am assuming that what I am seeing is a ghost, or a spirit of some sort. I'll have to ask Rika about it tomorrow, to see if she is aware of it herself.

I arrive at the shop around 6:00 like I promised. I greet the store owner and he instructs me on what I will be doing. I am mostly going to be moving the heavier items around and doing stock of the items. If any new items are brought in, I handle the bigger ones. I begin working after he has explained my work to me. There are plenty of large items store in the back room. I begin bringing them out into the main store. I ask the owner where he wants each item and he tells me the desired location. After I finish moving all the heavy items into the store, I begin doing the inventory of the shop. This all takes me about three hours and thirty minutes, so it's about 9:30 by the time I finish. While doing inventory, I notice a large sword up on the wall. I am interested in the sword and ask the owner if I may see it.

He lets me get it down from the wall. He explains that a mysterious old man brought it in. I pull the blade from its sheath. The blade is extremely large. It is about three and a half feet long, and one foot wide. The blade is about three inches in width, in the back, and steadily gets smaller as it comes to the cutting edge. Near the top of the blade, it slants back. As I look at the sword I am reminded of a similar sword, that I saw in my old world. I think it was called a buster sword.

I sheath the sword and place it back on its rack. I compliment the weapon to the owner. "If you want it, I will trade you this week's pay for it." He offers.

"Nah, I think I'll take the money this week, but I might take you up on your offer next week." I reply.

He nods his head in approval. He then lets me know that I did a good job for the day and I am free to go. Before I leave, I explain my situation about coming in earlier. He tells me that it should be fine.

I begin walking back to the mansion. _I am thankful Mion is going to let me use her bike. Walking to and from everywhere is beginning to wear on my feet. _I continue walking till I reach the mansion. It is about 11:00 when I arrive so I am careful to be quite. I head to the kitchen to grab dinner for myself. I open the refrigerator to find it waiting for me. I eat it and head to the bath. The water is considerably cooler than it usually is, but I guess it can't be helped. After my bath I head to my room.

As I pass Mion's room I see that her light is still on. _She must have waited for me. _I knock on the door. She says, "Come in" and I enter. She is smiling as she sees me enter.

"You didn't have to wait for me, you know." I tell her.

"I know, but I wanted to see you before I went to bed." She replies.

I walk over and sit next to her.

"How was work?" She asks me.

"It was good." I reply. I then explain the details of my work.

"Sounds boring."

"I guess. It is interesting to see all the different types of antiques though."

She then decides to ask me about club. "Did you have fun today at club, today?"

"I did." I reply. "It was a lot of fun. I'll have to think of a way to beat you guys though. I don't plan on losing to you guys forever."

She giggles.

"Oh, you think so? I think you'll have a hard time beating us at our games."

"Hopefully we won't be playing rigged card games the whole time, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. You might be able to beat us when we do an active game."

I smile. _That's when I will get them._

"You'll have to look out for Satoko though."

I give Mion a curious expression.

"We don't call her the 'trap master' for nothing."

"I see. I'll be wary then."

We remain silent for a second since we have run out of things to talk about. I reach my arm around her shoulder and pull her closer to me. She rests her head on my shoulder, and I rest mine on hers. She gives a happy sigh. I wish that we could stay like this forever. After a minute or two I tell her that I should be going. "We have school tomorrow, and I still have training in the morning."

She sighs, but lets me up. I offer her my hand. She takes it, and I pull her to her feet. We embrace and give each other a good night kiss. I then tell her, "Good night" and head to the door. She sits back down and replies with her own, "Good night." I leave the room and head to mine. It is almost 11:30 by the time I am lying in my futon, ready to go to bed. I am excited to go to school tomorrow with Mion. _I can't wait._ With that, my mind goes blank, and sleep overtakes me.


	7. Chapter 6: Beginning of the Routine

**Chapter 6: Beginning of the Routine**

When I arrived at the dojo this morning, I am told that we were going to be doing some more training with guns. Instead of going to the shooting range that we went to yesterday, we end up going to an outdoor range. Sensei and the manager, from the range yesterday, are there waiting for us. Trying to reason out why we would need to come to an outdoor range, I come up with, because I am going to use some high-powered weapons. Though I find the idea ridiculous, as I am still a novice, I am completely right.

After I have suited up, I am handed a high-powered sniper rifle. I am in disbelief. _How can they expect me to use a weapon like this? I'm just a novice. When will I ever need to use something like this anyways? _I start to consider whether or not I should question Sensei about this, but my instincts tell me to leave it be.

When I am ready, I lie down with my rifle and take aim. I remove to safety and begin the process of aiming. I remember a video that I once watched, in my old world. It was about snipers. At the time, I was only watching out of interest. _Never thought I would actually need the information. _I look at my surroundings, to gauge the environmental effects on the bullet. After making a few adjustments on the scope, to compensate for wind and gravity, I look down the scope at my target. I remember an important piece of information about firing. _I mustn't have my eye too close to the scope when I fire. I don't want to show up to my first day of school with a black eye._

I prepare to fire. The target doesn't have any marks on it so I aim for the head, as I think a normal sniper would do. I line the cross-hairs up on the targets head, steady myself by holding my breath, and pull the trigger. The gun jolts back a bit. Thankfully, not enough to hit me in the eye. I let my breath out and look at the target. I hit it.

Shinji comes up to me. "Quite impressive. I'm starting to doubt you, when you say you don't have any previous training with guns."

I reply to him. "I really don't. I watched a show about sniping a while back and I used the information I got from that to make my shot."

Sensei and the manager come up to me. Sensei has a very pleased expression on her face. The manager tells me that I have a knack for guns. I tell him what I told Shinji. "Even with that information, you did well, to judge your adjustments. " I thank him.

After we finish talking, I am asked to take another shot. I lie down again and make the adjustments. My last shot was a bit low so I raise the scope up a click. It was also to the left a bit. I check the wind, and find it to be blowing about the same as my last shot, so I adjust the scope accordingly. I make sure I'm not too close to the scope, center the cross-hairs on the head of my target, hold my breath for stability, and pull the trigger. _Perfect. _The shot went right through the center of the target's head. I feel a great amount of pride as I see the target through my scope.

I hand my rifle to the manager and he hands me, what looks like a grenade launcher, in return. I take the weapon and head over to the firing point. I release the safety on the weapon and take aim. Since the wind is still blowing, I aim just a little to the side of the target and a little above it. I pull the trigger and the gun goes, *Thoomp*. A second later, I see an explosion behind the target.

"Awesome." I say to no one in particular.

I am awed by the explosion as this is the first real one I've seen in real life. I take aim again, adjusting for the error in my first shot. I pulled the trigger. Again the gun goes, *Thoomp* as the grenade is launched. This time, the target itself explodes. _Got it._

I return the gun to the manager. I ask him if that's all and he turns to Sensei. She replies with, "That's all." The manager explains that I will be using some other weapons next time we come. I am unsure if I am excited or a bit frightened. Using weapons like this can be a scary thing. You have soo much power in your hands. Losing control of it would be a very bad thing.

With training being over for the day, we head back to the mansion. We were not there as long as we were yesterday. I assume Mion told Sensei that I am starting school today. When we arrive at the mansion, I head to the kitchen for some breakfast. I see Mion sitting at the table, eating her breakfast. She smiles when she sees me.

I grab some of the breakfast, which she prepared, and sit down next to her. I begin to eat just as she finishes.

"Sorry to rush you Mike, but we should get to the school as soon as possible." She warns me.

"Alright. I'll eat quick." I reply.

I scarf down the food as fast as I can and get ready to go. I meet Mion out in front of the mansion. We begin walking to school together. She is pushing her bike, since I'll be using it later. She looks like she is in a really good mood.

"How was breakfast?" She asks.

"It was very good." I reply. "Wish I didn't have to scarf it down so fast, so I could take the time to savor it more."

"Sorry about that." She apologizes.

"It's fine."

I look at her pushing the bike and I ask to take it from her.

"You aren't going to ride ahead of me are you?" She asks, not really meaning it.

"Of course not. How irresponsible would it be for a gentleman, like myself, to leave a lady behind."

She giggles and hands the bike over. As she does, I grab the center of the steering bar with one hand and reach my other hand out to her. She smiles and takes my hand. We interlace our fingers as walk to school together. Mion moves in a bit closer and slightly leans on me as we walk. I enjoy her presence so much. I am glad that we will probably be able to do this on a daily basis from now on.

The time pasts, and before I realize it, we have reached the school. We release each other's hands and Mion shows me where the bike rack is. I park it and head into the building. Mion follows me, right on my heels. Just as I am about to enter the doorway of the school, she stops. Confused, I turn around to ask her what's up. Just I do, I am hit on the head by what seems to be a large metal pan.

"Oww." I say plainly.

It was more of a surprise than anything else. I turn around right as a girl dashes around the corner, leading to the hallway. I dash into the school to find this, so called, "trap master". I burst into the classroom. The only one I see is Rika, who is sitting at her desk. I don't have any time to examine the room as my sixth sense is telling me that I'm in danger.

I leap into the room, just barely able to escape yet another pan to the head. Just as I am recovering from my roll, I see multiple erasers flying at me. I dodge to the side and manage to avoid them all. _She's good._ The room is silent. Nothing is moving except for Rika. I cautiously walk over to her. "Rika, have you seen Satoko around? I have something that I would like to discuss with her."

"Mii, I haven't seen her. Sorry Mikey."

_Liar._

I move around the room. It is apparent she isn't here. Just as I am about to leave the room, Mion enters. I ask her if she's seen Satoko. She gives me a reply, not unlike Rika's. "Sorry Mike, Haven't seen her."

_She's got to be around here somewhere._

I head out into the hall, determined to find my prey. I don't see anyone down the hall so I head back outside. I search around the grounds a bit, but I don't find any traces of life anywhere. _I give up_. Discouraged I head back to the classroom.

Just as I am about to cross the threshold, I sense another pan. The only thing I am able to do is fall backwards to avoid it. As I am sitting there I hear a voice behind me. "My my, it seems we've got a one that's quick on his feet. I'm going to have to step it up a bit if I'm going to get you now aren't I?" Satoko mocks. I jump to my feet and take after her. Just as I round the corner of the hallway, I run into Chie-Sensei, who Satoko has decided to use as a human shield.

I straighten up immediately.

"Morning Sensei. How are you?"

She scowls at me.

"Mike-kun, I would prefer it if you didn't pester the younger ones. You might leave a bad first impression." She lectures.

"Yes ma'am." I reply.

As she leaves, Satoko sticks her tongue out at me. I glare at her and mouth the words, "After school, you're dead."

I head back to class, following Chie-Sensei. We are pretty early so the only ones here are Rika, Satoko, Chie-Sensei, Mion, and I. Chie-Sensei explains to me what I will be doing once the rest of the class gets here.

_Might as well introduce myself as "the guy who came from nowhere". _I think to myself in a sarcastic tone.

I take a seat next to Mion, since we are in the same grade. She decides to ask me about Satoko. "So did you give her a stern talking to?"

"No, I wasn't able to. She hid behind Chie-Sensei."

Mion Chuckles. "That's Satoko for you. Never without an escape plan."

With some time before class starts I examine my surroundings. The room itself isn't very big. It's only big enough to fit about twenty people. From what Mion has told me, it sounds like there are fourteen students. Fifteen now that I have joined. As my eyes come across Rika, I see the girl.

She is there, like always, hovering behind Rika. The girl is dressed in a shrine maiden outfit. She has long purple hair that goes down to the small of her back, and what seems to be two purple horns; one growing out of each side of her head. Each horn also seems to have some chips or scratches on them. I decide that I will ask Rika about it during lunch break.

More and more student begin coming into the classroom. One of the students is Rena, who seems to constantly be in a radiantly happy mood. She comes and sits on the opposite side of Mion. We say our greetings to her, and she says hers in, her weird third person way of speaking. Her personality interests me.

When it seems that the entire class has gathered, Chie-Sensei has Mion do the morning commands.

"Stand! Bow!"

The entire class bows and says, "Good morning."

"Be seated!"

After the commands, Chie-Sensei has me come up and write my name on the board. My name consists of four Katakana. I introduce myself the class. As I finish I say, "I hope you hold me in your best regards." Right as I finish, I am flooding with a sudden surge of questions.

_Oh no, not this again!_

Luckily, Chie-Sensei is able to settle them down, and I am able to return to my seat.

We start the day off with English. We all are asked to read from a textbook, and then asked to read out loud. When it comes my turn to read, I begin reading in a perfect English accent. All the kids are in awe of my ability to read English perfectly. I am embarrassed that I am receiving so much attention.

After English comes Math. I am able to understand my work pretty well. I have begun working even as Chie-Sensei is still explaining how to do the problems to Mion and Rena. I finish after about half an hour and sit back to relax a bit. Mion and Rena are still working, so I decide not to bother them. I see Chie-Sensei helping the younger kids with their problems. I think that it must be tough for her, having to teach all the kids at once. As I look, I see that three kids are asking for her help at once. Being as she is busy, I decide to get up and see what I can do to help.

I come up to a young boy with his hand up and ask, "Which one are you stuck on?" he hesitates for a second, so I give him as reassuring of a smile as I can. Overcoming his unease, he point to a question. I explain to him what kind of problem it is and how to solve it. He doesn't understand it so I think for a second. I come up with a good mental picture for him. After I explain it to him using the image I gave him, he says, "Oh, I get it now." Pleased, I go over to the next student asking for help.

Class continues on like this for two more subjects. I am able to finish a bit early so I spend the rest of my time, going around and helping to answer questions. I quickly find that just explaining the problem and the solution doesn't really work that well, so I learn to think on my feet, and to come up with good mental images to help them understand. After we finish those two subjects we hear the lunch bell ring.

I take this time to go over to Rika and ask her for a moment of her time. She agrees and we head out behind the school. As we stand there, I can see the spirit girl hovering behind Rika.

"What did you want to talk to me about Mikey? Do you not like it when I call you Mikey, and you want me to stop?" She asks.

"No, no. That's fine. I just wanted to ask you a question about something." I reply.

She tilts her head slightly, waiting for my question.

"You might think I'm crazy or something, but bear with me for a sec." I take a breath. "Rika, I think you're being followed by a spirit."

Her mouth drops open. After a second she says, "You…can…see her?"

The spirit girl speaks to Rika, "Au, I told you Rika. I told you that he could see me."

I reply to her, "Yeah, I've noticed her hovering around you. I'm guessing that no one else has mentioned that they can see and hear her?"

She appears to still be in shock. She is finally able to mutter out, "No, I've been the only one. That is, until now."

"I see, well that's all I wanted to tell you about." As I am about to head back into class, I feel that I should become acquainted with this spirit girl, since she appears to be a friend of Rika's. "My name is Micheal. You can call me Mike or Mikey if you wish. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The spirit girl blushes and hides behind Rika. I seems that she is too shy to introduce herself so I turn to leave. As I do I hear, "Au, umm…" I turn back around to face the girl.

"Hau…My name is H-Hanyuu. I-it's a pleasure to meet you as well." I smile at the girl and she blushes even harder.

"Well, Hanyuu. I hope you will hold me in your best regards." I decide to add in something to Rika. "Oh, and don't worry Rika. I won't tell anyone about Hanyuu."

She doesn't seem to be listening to me so I head back into the school building to have some lunch.

* * *

"Au, Rika. What do you think this means?"

"I don't know Hanyuu. This is the first time anyone other than me has been able to see you. This is also the very first time Mike-kun has come into our world."

"Au, do you think he is to replace Keiichi?"

"I don't know. Keiichi isn't supposed to arrive till two weeks from now. He may still come."

"Do you think Mike-kun has the key to ending your repeating deaths?"

"Maybe Hanyuu. I really hope he does, because I'm beginning to lose the will to fight this fate anymore."

"Hau, hau."

Rika begins to ponder her fate. Will it finally be solved? Will she finally be able to escape the eternally repeating deaths, she has been subjected to, for centuries? Or is this just another dead-end world, like the rest?

After thinking for a while, she decides to return to the classroom. She doesn't want the others to worry about her. She returns to her childish demeanor, though it is only a mask that she wears, and enters the classroom.

Hanyuu remains outside for a minute worrying about her friend. "Please, oh please, Mike-kun. Please save Rika from her fate."

* * *

When I return to the room, I sit down next to Mion and begin to chow down on the bento she prepared for me. Unlike breakfast, I am able to savor Mion's cooking this time. "This is really good Mion. You are quite the cook."

She waves it off like its nothing. "Oh, it's not that great."

"I think it's really good. Here Rena, you try some and tell us what you think." I say as I scoot my bento over to Rena.

She takes some and replies. "Mike-kun's right Mii-chan. This is really good, it is."

Mion begins to blush, "Oh come on you guys. I just kinda threw this together."

"Well, whatever you did, it turned out pretty well."

Rena agrees with me. "Uh huh."

Mion finally accepts our compliments with a smile.

A couple minutes later Rika comes back in. Taking notice of her, Mion becomes curious about what I needed to talk to her about. She starts to interrogate me.

"It was nothing. I just needed to ask her something." I reply as she begins to prod me for answers.

"Oh? You wouldn't be plotting anything with Rika now, would you?" She makes a guess.

I play along, "Not like I would tell you, even if I was."

Mion chuckles. "I see. If that's the case then I'll have to double your punishment game today, when you lose."

"WHEN I lose?" I ask sarcastically. "So it's already decided. If so, then I'll just have to find a way to foil your plans."

She chuckles again. Rena begins to get excited. "Ooh, I wonder what Mii-chan has planned for Mike-kun, I wonder."

I return to my lunch since the time to eat is nearly over. I look over to Rika, who is sitting at her desk. I can't tell what she's thinking since I can't really tell her expression from where I am positioned. Hanyuu is hovering over her like always.

The bell rings and we resume class. The second half of the school day went about the same as the first half. I would finish a little early, and then help the other students who needed help. After class was over Chie-Sensei pulled me aside and thanked me for helping out.

"You aren't just trying to butter me up from this morning are you?" She asks.

"Not really." I reply. "If I am finished with my work, and I see that you are busy, I have no problem helping out the younger ones."

Sensei is pleased with my reply, and heads out. With class over, it is time for club activities. This time, it looks like we are going to play go-fish. I see that the deck, Mion brings out, is not as beaten as the deck from yesterday. I ask if there is anything "fishy" about these cards, and chuckle at my own bad pun. Mion claims that these cards are clean.

"I see, well let's do our best to get to the top then!" I proclaim.

"That's the spirit!" Mion cheers me on.

After a few rounds, I am able to tell that the cards are, indeed, fair. At the end of the game, it turns out that I was able to come out in third place. Mion ends up coming out on top as first place. Rena takes second, then me, of course. After me, follows Rika, and then Satoko, the loser of today's game.

"Don't go easy on her Mion. She isn't new here like I am."

"I won't. I already had something planned for you, but it seems that you were able to avoid your fate." She replies.

I snicker at Satoko.

"Oh well. I guess we can't have Micheal-kun lose EVERY game we play." Satoko replies, to save face.

Satoko is forced to go change into a maid outfit, by order of Mion.

"My my, Satoko. I must say that you look much better in that outfit. Perhaps you should consider wearing that from now on. Ohohoho!" I do my best Satoko impression.

She gives me a ferocious glare.

"I'll make sure to beat you next time Micheal-kun. We'll see who's laughing when that happens." She replies.

Everyone starts laughing except Satoko.

It's about time for me to head to my job so I gather my stuff and wave goodbye to the other club members. Mion follows me out the door. I give her a hug and kiss before I head out to Okinomiya. "I'll see you later Mion."

"Bye, Mike. Work hard." She sees me off.

With the bike, I am able to make it to the store in about twenty minutes. I park the bike around the back of the building. I don't think anyone will take it, but the bike isn't mine so I want to make sure.

There a few more large items that needs to be moved into the main store. After I complete my task, I take the inventory again. It takes me about an hour and a half to finish, so I spend the rest of the time tending to the store. A couple of customers come in. I ask them if they are looking for anything specific, but they tell me that they are just browsing. I let them know to ask me if they have any questions. As 10:00 rolls around, the manager of the store comes to let me know that I've worked enough. I remember Mion telling me that she has work tomorrow and that we won't be having club activities tomorrow. I let the manager know that I will be coming in early tomorrow. He thanks me for my work, and I head out.

I was able to work and extra thirty minutes today, thanks to Mion's bike. Even if it's only thirty minutes, it will add up over time. I am able to make it back home in about twenty minutes. I repeat my routine of grabbing dinner and taking a bath.

After my bath I head to Mion's room to say goodnight. As expected, her light is on, so I knock. I hear the familiar "come in" and proceed to enter the room. She stands as I enter and I move in to embrace her. We stand there, in each other's arms for about a minute, completely silent. We just enjoy each other's embrace and feel each other's warmth against our bodies.

We begin talking to each other, as we embrace. We also begin swaying back and forth, as we hold each other, almost like we are dancing. My heart is full of joy as I hold, and talk to the one I love. We talk about the day. She tells me that she is proud of me for helping the younger kids out. I tell her that it isn't anything special.

After we run out of things to talk about, I tell her that I should probably head to bed now. She whines that she doesn't want me to leave. I suggest that I could sleep in her room tonight. She looks at me like she is really considering it.

"Mion we can't. What is someone comes in? We would be in huge trouble. Besides, I think that it's still too early in our relationship to be doing things like that. It's bad enough that we have started hugging and kissing when we have just begun our relationship."

She frowns, and then asks, "You don't like my hugs and kisses?"

"Of course I like them. I am the happiest I've ever been when I do those with you. It's just that we are moving too fast. I've done this once before, and it didn't turn out well. I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

Her eyes tell me that she doesn't think that we're moving too fast.

"Please trust me on this Mion. I am not about to repeat the same mistake twice."

"Alright." She replies. She then asks me a question. "You've had a girlfriend before?"

"Yes. Back in my old world, I had a girl that I loved very much, but things started moving too fast. We started doing stupid things together, and eventually her mom found out. Needless to say, she was not pleased. She gave us a second chance, but we were unable to change our ways. She found out again and she forbade us from seeing each other, ever again. I have never been as crushed as I was that day. I wept all night long."

Mion squeezes me a little tighter, "Oh Mike. I'm sorry."

"It's ok Mion. I was just doing what my body was telling me. I know now that I need to resist it, and what the consequences are if I don't."

She tries to comfort me.

"I know you'll be able to do it. I have faith in you."

I reply to her. "It's not that easy Mion. Once you start going, it's nearly impossible to stop. Admittedly, the girl that I was with had some major self-confidence issues, and she enjoyed it just as much as I did, but that is no excuse for what happened."

Mion begins to look worried. "How…far did you go with her?"

I sigh and begin telling her the ugly truth.

"First off, I will tell you, that we never had sex."

She looks a little less worried, but still wants to hear what I have to say.

"It started off with basic touching. Similar to what we are doing. After a while we got bored and we started moving on to more things. I started to grope her breasts. That escalated to moving my hand under her shirt. That turned into, me sticking my hand down her pants."

She begins to understand the extent of my impurity.

I continue. "There were times when I would sneak over to her house, when she pretended to be sick. During those times it would sometimes escalate to the point of clothes coming off. The farthest we ever went was me seeing her completely naked. That's about it."

I stand there, in front of this girl, who I have intense feelings for. I am completely ashamed of my previous actions. Thinking about what I did and how it has probably hurt the girl here, who trusts me so much, I feel like I want to die. I am on the verge of tears. I clench my fists, trying to keep it in. Before I realize it, Mion has wrapped her arms around me.

I lose it. I am unable to hold it in anymore. I begin to weep in her arms. I lose strength in my legs and we fall to the floor. I cry bitterly, in shame.

"Mion, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…."

She shushes me like a mother would, her child.

"You regret what you did, right?" She asks.

"Of course! I ruined that girl. I cared for her soo much, yet I took advantage of her. I'm a friggen monster!" I cry out.

"No, you aren't a monster." She replies in a calm voice. "Your heart is very gentle. You just didn't know how to control your body. I know how hard it is. I get the urge to do things like that as well. To be honest, I would love to have you do those things to me, but I won't let you. Do you know why?"

"No." I reply. Tears are still flowing from my eyes.

"It's because I love you. I don't want to see you suffer like that again. Even if I feel like I want you to do things like that to me, I will hold it in. I want this relationship to work out as well. I am willing to make any sacrifice necessary to make that happen."

A great joy fills my heart. My tears start coming again. This time they are tears of happiness.

"Thank you Mion. Thank you so much. I too will try my best to not give in to my temptations. Before, I thought that there wouldn't be any downfall to what I was doing. Now I know. I will fight for this relationship. I will fight, because I love you too!" I promise to her, with all my heart.

She begins crying tears of her own. We embrace each other, yet again. After we have settled down a bit she asks, "What should we do for now?"

"I think that we are okay were we are for now, but I think that we should not do anything beyond that. We should keep it down to hugs, and short kisses. We can't start making out or anything." I say as I start blushing.

She giggles, "Yeah that sounds reasonable. How will we know when it's okay to do those things though?"

"If I said marriage, would you be mad at me?" I ask.

She laughs. "No, I wouldn't be mad. I'd be a little disappointed, but I can see your point and agree with you."

I smile. We hold each other for a bit longer then release each other. It's about time for me to head off to bed.

"Good night Mion. Sleep well. I'm really glad that I was able to share that with you. I really didn't want to have to keep it a secret forever. I'm sorry if it caused you any hurt. I think you deserve to slap me or something for doing that to you."

She looks thoughtful. "Good night Mike. Don't worry about that. I was hurt a little, but I can see that you were truly hurt by it and you regret it. I won't do anything to take revenge because I believe that you have probably already done so to yourself."

I look down to the floor.

_She's right._

Seeing me, she comes over to me. She lifts my chin up a bit to face her, and then proceeds to give me a small kiss on the lips. I am comforted by her gesture and I leave the room with a smile. I head back to my room and lie down, in my futon. I am happy that she understood me and that she still accepts me, even though I did something that could be considered betrayal.

_I don't deserve her._

My thoughts wander off. My mind begins to shut down. It is eager to rest from all the emotional stress I went through, not too long ago. My senses dull. My mind goes blank, and I fall asleep. Dreams of Mion begin to flow through my mind. I smile in my sleep and a single tear flows down my cheek.

* * *

The boy leaves the room. She suddenly becomes weary from all the emotional activities that just occurred. She lies down on her futon and begins to think. She thinks back to what the boy told her about his actions in the past. Her heart begins to feel a bit of pain. She feels a little betrayed. She would have never guessed that something like this could have happened to the boy she loves.

She then recalls his face after he finished explaining his sin. Her heart breaks. The boy is truly broken. He was about to cry. She remembers how she went to him to comfort him and how he cried on her shoulder. _He truly regrets it._ She knows in her heart that this is true.

The last thing she remembers is his promise to her. _I will fight, because I love you too. _Her heart is filled with joy. _He loves me._ Together they will fight their temptations. They are determined to make this relationship work. Even if it ends up in failure, they will know that they tried their best to make it work.

With that thought in mind, she begins to fall asleep. She is thankful to have this boy in her life. She knows that he is not perfect, but he has a pure heart. He truly wants to make it work out between them. She realizes that the very definition of love is the fight; a couple participates in, to become one in spirit, mind, and body. This thought brings her a great amount of comfort. Her senses dull and her mind shuts off. In her mind, are dreams of a boy who will stop at nothing to make their love, a reality.


	8. Chapter 7: A New Player

**Chapter 7: A New Player**

A couple of weeks have passed, and I have established a pretty normal routine. Every day I get up and go to training. Training consists mostly of three things: martial arts, sword play, and use of firearms. We rotate to the next area of training after every day. Steadily my skills have improved in all three areas. The area with the most improvement seems to be in the area of sword play. I have gone from being completely outmatched by Shinji to nearly surpassing him. My training in martial arts has also helped to improve my skills in swords. Taking notice of my affinity, Sensei has announced that we will double up on training in that area. We now train in sword play every other day.

My skills in martial arts have grown from knowing completely nothing, to being able to hold my own in battle. My muscles have begun to form and I can now put a considerate amount of power behind my attacks. I have also been taught many tricks and techniques for subduing an enemy. My natural instincts seem to enhance my fighting ability quite a bit as well. Shinji has begun to call me "Light Dragon" because my attacks are quick like a flash of light, but they have a lot of ferocity behind them. I also seem to prefer attacks from the air, as they are harder to counter-attack and allow me to add the power of gravity into my attacks.

In firearms, I have become familiar with many different types of weapons. From shotguns, to assault rifles. I have also had some experience in some weapons that I'll likely never need to use. I have used weapons like armor-piercing, rocket propelled grenades, and even some basic throwing knives. I have improved on my skills with handguns the most. I am glad, because I think that handguns will be the most likely thing I will ever have to use. I am now able to hit the farthest target mostly in the center. I never hit below a seven.

Sensei is pleased with how much I have improved in my training. She declares that I am good enough to carry weapons on me. She has Shinji bring me a katana, and a handgun. I tie the katana to my waist and put the vest, which holds the handgun, over my shoulders. I remove them only when I enter buildings so no one has a problem with them.

After training every morning, I have breakfast with Mion, and we head off to school together. I usually push the bike in with one hand and we hold hands on the way to school, but sometimes she wants to push it, since she doesn't want me to do it all the time. I always decline though. She argues with me about it for a while, but I hold my ground. With a sigh, she gives up. Occasionally, I don't take the bike at all because, on days that Mion has work as well, we walk together to Okinomiya. I have come to fall in love those days, since we are also able to walk home together after work. The manager at my store has come to know Mion since she gets off a little before I do, and comes over to wait for me.

During school, I often finish before anyone else. I have become an unofficial teacher's aide. Even if I have not finished with my work, I am sometimes asked by the younger ones to help out. I am glad that the class has gotten over their initial apprehension about me. If the teacher is busy, I am their "go to" guy. Sometimes Rena or Mion will need my help as well. I am really happy about my position in the school and Chie-Sensei has thanked me many times for my help.

Every morning I am forced to identify and dodge Satoko's traps. I think that she is either getting better and better at laying the traps, or I am becoming more and more predictable. I find myself in a huge chain of trap; as I dodge from one, I find myself in another. My reflexes and instincts seem to have become more attuned through these experiences though. I dodge every one, almost every day, but there are days where she comes up with something extremely inventive and I am able to find no escape from it. She truly deserves her title of "trap master."

I see Hanyuu all the time now. She is usually behind Rika, but she will occasionally explore a little. She likes to come watch me when I work. Though she is a spirit, it is still odd to have someone watch what you are doing over your shoulder. I often turn my head slightly to stare at her. It doesn't take long for her to realize, after I've stopped moving my pencil, that I'm staring at her. When she does, her cheeks immediately turn bright red. Often, she will mutter something like, "Au, sorry. Mike-kun." and go off to watch someone else. I can't help but smile when she does, as she is very cute. I have been caught staring back at nothing a couple of times by Mion. She usually believes me when I give her a lame excuse, but sometimes she gives me a questioning eye. I ignore her stare, and she gives up.

After class ends, we start our club. This usually consists of board games, but we will sometimes do active games, like tag and such. Even though I am going through training, I still find it a little difficult to win in the active games. I, by no means, dominate in this area, but I am the winner of such games, more times than not. Overall, it seems that everyone has to experience the punishment games at least once a week. Mion seems to be able to avoid it more than most though. She truly does ANYTHING to win. I find that I enjoy her competitive nature.

After club activities, I head off to work. I ride Mion's bike when she doesn't have work herself, but when she does have work, we walk together. I work about three hours and thirty minutes a day. The manager lets me have weekends off, since I come in every day during the week. Every day at work, I move the larger items into the shop. I then do the inventory. After I finish with those tasks, I tend the store for the remaining time. The manager has trained me a little about the items in his store. I have become more familiar with the items, and often help a customer out when they are looking for something.

As promised, after my second week of work, the manager gave me the large sword as payment. Unfortunately, it disappeared after the first day. I asked around the house, but no one took it. I was extremely disappointed. I was unable to understand how I misplaced something so big. Mion reassured me that it would turn up again.

I was able to use the check, from the previous week, to by Mion some chocolates. She enjoyed them very much and thought it was very sweet of me. I was also able to use some of the money to take Mion out on a date. Naturally, we had to explain to her parents that we had begun dating. I was surprised when they approved of it. Oryou-Sensei also seemed to approve of our being together. She said that it would make me fight harder to protect her if I needed to. I was extremely relieved that they all accepted our relationship.

The date with Mion went very well. She wore a kimono and I wore a suit that I bought using the remainder of my money. She looked amazing. The colors of the kimono accented the color of her emerald hair and eyes, nicely. When I first saw her, I'm sure my mouth was dropping open in amazement at how beautiful she was. All she could do was stand there, with her cheeks burning bright red, as I examined her beauty. Not knowing many restaurants, Mion suggested one. We walked to the restaurant, hand-in-hand. We ate a wonderful meal, as we talked about anything that comes to mind. After dinner, we had dessert. It was also very good, and I feel that it was completely worth its cost. We then walked home together.

We walk slowly, as we were both full and we wanted to enjoy each other's company more. I seems that we have become more like friends over the past weeks as we are able to talk normally with each other, with ease. Mion has begun to act more like herself when she is only with me. She isn't as shy about things as she once was and her tomboy nature has begun to come out more. I am pleased that she is more familiar and comfortable with me now. I feel that our relationship has grown a little. We have also been able to keep from experimenting with anything. We have set boundaries for ourselves, and we are determined to keep to those boundaries.

After I return from work every day, I head to the kitchen for a little dinner. If it is a day that Mion has work as well, she makes dinner for us both. I enjoy being able to have a warm meal with her every once in a while. After dinner, I head to my bath. Mion goes first if it's her work day, but normally I am able to head straight in. Mion is always waiting for me after my bath. Even though she told me that I can just enter, I still take the time to knock and wait for her reply. Once, she didn't reply so I waited. We ended up waiting for about a minute before I told her that I could come back later if she wasn't decent. She quickly said to come in. She glared at me as I entered, but I ignored her and gave her our nightly hug. We like to review our day at this time. When we finish, we hug and kiss good night, and I head off to bed.

On Monday, this last week, Mion informed me that her sister Shion will be coming to our school from now on. Apparently she was able to transfer out of the boarding school she was sent to and get into the Hinamizawa School. I was excited since this would be the first time meeting Mion's twin sister. Mion says that they are exactly alike so they sometimes switch places. I gave her a worried expression. She told me that it would be fine, since they weren't going to play a trick on me, like that.

I met Shion at the school. She was already there when we arrived. I bowed and told her that I was pleased to meet her. She laughs and says that she pretty much already knows me from all that Mion has told her. She looks exactly like Mion. The only difference is the way she dresses. I'm glad that they don't wear the same clothes, on the same days, like other twins seem to do. Shion seems to like her hair down. She has her hair tied in the back with a ribbon. She also wears a white t-shirt, with a blue and white, stripped, ribbon around the collar. She wears a navy blue skirt, as well. I remembered what Mion said about them switching places, and I wondered if she is really who she said she was. Even though Mion said that they wouldn't do that to me, I know from past experiences that it IS something that she might do to mess with me.

Shion quickly fits into our regular school life. She seems to stick close to Satoko. She explains that it was Satoko's elder brother, Satoshi's, last request to her before he disappeared. I tell her that, I was told that Satoshi transferred away. Her expression immediately changes. She seems to become very agitated. I asked her what was wrong and she replied that what Mion told me was a lie. I ask her if she is willing to tell me the truth and she agrees to tell me.

During that day's lunch break, Shion and I headed out back to talk. She explains the situation Satoko and Satoshi were in, prior to the incident. Apparently, their aunt was very abusive to Satoko, so Satoshi spent most of his time covering for her. During the night of the festival, they hold in Hinamizawa, called the Watanagashi festival, Satoshi and Satoko's aunt was murdered by a drunk. A few days after, Satoshi went to a store to get a large, stuffed bear for Satoko's birthday. Shion tells me that he had been working for it for quite a while. She then goes on to explain that he was not seen again after that. He just disappeared.

As Shion is explaining Satoshi's disappearance, I have the feeling of déjà vu that seems to happen to me sometimes. When I looked over at Shion, it appeared that she was about to start crying. I decided to walk over to her. I placed a hand on her shoulder and told her, "He's alive, Shion. I know he is." She asked me how I could be so sure. I told her what I felt in my heart. Satoshi is alive. How I know, is a mystery to me. All I know is that it is a fact. This is what I told her. She seemed to be able to control herself after a moment. After she sees how serious I was about it, she gives me a quick hug, and thanks me.

When I went back in, Mion gave me an accusing look and asked what I was doing with Shion. I tell her the truth. She asked me if Shion was okay. I told her that she was fine and that Satoshi is alive. She gave me a skeptical look, but I remained serious. "If you say so." was her reply. I suggest to Mion that she apologize to Shion for lying. She is apprehensive, but I was able to convince her to, in the end.

After things were all settled out, life began going on normally again. Shion quickly became a member of our club and began participating in our activities. Together, Shion and Satoko worked together to take me down. I make a mental note to submit Shion to a good punishment game when the time comes. Satoko now has a new shield to hide behind, and I can't seem to get around it, no matter what.

* * *

It's the beginning of a new week. After training, Mion informs me that another student has transferred into our school. Apparently, he moved to Hinamizawa recently. She tells me that his name is Keiichi Maebara. When I ask her how she knows so much about him already, she tells me that she and Rena went to meet him on Friday, after club.

"…and you waited till now to tell me?" I ask her.

She scratches her head, "Hehe, I forgot."

_Of course you did._

She tells me that I will get to meet him today at school.

We head off after breakfast. Mion's work schedule is usually, one whole week on; one whole week off. This week is a working week for her, so we skip the bike. We walk to the school, hand-in-hand, like always. Though things like this have become less exciting, since the beginning of our relationship, they still make me and Mion happy. Since we have decided to be firm about our actions, we have to enjoy what we do have.

As we walk, Mion tells me her plans on what we will do to get Keiichi into the club. It looks to me like she is actually going to let him get used to regular school life for a day or two before suggesting that he join. I'm surprised that she isn't going to try it, the first day.

When we reach the school, I go ahead of Mion. I stand a little ways from the doorway to examine it for any traps. I see none so I enter cautiously, ready to make an escape at a moment's notice. To my surprise, nothing happens. I walk extremely cautiously through the halls. Mion giggles as she passes me, and enters the classroom. Even though nothing happened when she entered, I am still on guard when I do. It is the same story for me as well though. I am beginning to become paranoid. Satoko hasn't ever skipped out on laying traps for me. Usually I'd have sprung at least one by now. I see Rika and Hanyuu here so I know that she's here. I check my desk and chair, but again I find nothing. I take a seat and look up. Still…nothing.

_What the heck is she planning?_

I decide to walk over to Rika and ask her.

"Hey Rika, what's up with Satoko? I haven't come across any traps. Is she sick or something?"

"Mii, Satoko isn't sick. She's around here, somewhere."

I turn to Hanyuu and whisper to her.

"Hey Hanyuu, think you could go scout a bit for me and see what Satoko's up to?"

She gives a small "Au" and turns to Rika. Rika gives her the ok and Hanyuu heads out. I return to my seat and wait for my scout to return. After a minute or two she comes floating back in. She makes her report to me.

"She's setting up some traps at the doorway and the hall. I don't think that they are intended for you though since you're already here."

_Of course. The new student._

I think about it for a second, and then decide to go talk to Satoko. I find her in the hallway, like Hanyuu said. I call out to her.

"Hey Satoko, what are you up to?"

"Ohohoho. Oh, nothing Micheal-kun." She replies.

"Doesn't look like nothing. You wouldn't be setting up some traps for the new kid, now would you?"

She gives as innocent of a look as she can.

"Of course not. I would never do something so cruel, like that."

"Heh, right." I scoff. "Anyways, I don't mind if you do lay some traps, but maybe you should wait a day or two before you do. Don't want to scare him off on the first day, you know."

She ponders what I said for a moment then sighs.

"You're no fun."

She then begins dismantling her traps, only after I am forced to leave though, since she doesn't want me to know her secrets. I check back a little while later, to see if she actually kept her word. She did. We head back to class, and I take my seat. Mion is talking with Shion, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Satoko heads over to her seat next to Rika. Shion greets me as she notices me. I return the greeting and resume my examination of my surroundings. Chie-Sensei is the next to enter.

After a while, the rest of the students start to come. Rena then enters the room, followed by the new boy, Keiichi. He looks to be about my age, maybe a year younger. He is wearing a plain white shirt and black jeans. He has brown hair and blue eyes. He heads over to the teacher for instruction.

When class starts, he is asked to write his name on the board and introduce himself. We all give him a warm welcome and he is told that he can have a seat next to me. I am glad, because I would like to be able to get to know this young man. I haven't really had any male friends here in Hinamizawa.

_Maybe Shinji, but that's different._

When he sits down, I offer him my hand and introduce myself. He takes it and we shake. When class starts, I start my usual routine of finishing my work and helping the younger ones. When I come back Keiichi makes a comment about it.

"Seems like the younger ones really look up to you."

"I wouldn't put it like that, I just help them out when I finish. It's the least I can do."

Mion overhears us and agrees with Keiichi.

"Kei-chan's right, Mike. The kids really look up to you. You just can't see it because you're too modest."

I still don't think that the younger ones look up to me like they say, but I just go with it. Later, during lunch, we all eat together. As we are eating, Keiichi explains where he came from and why he moved here. I explain that I recently transfer here as well. I am about to explain how I arrived here, but Mion cuts me off and has me follow her into the hall.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to just tell him how you got here. He's new here and we don't want to scare him off."

"I'm sure that it will be fine, Mion. I don't think he'll freak out. He doesn't seem like the type to do something like that. If you're right, and he does, I can just say that I'm kidding."

She gives me an unsure expression, but I put on a smile to reassure her.

"Alright, I'm trusting you on this."

We head back into the classroom. I continue what I was about to say. I explain to Keiichi my memory of how I got here and how I appeared in a flash of light. He seems really interested in my story. At the end he comments on it.

"That sounds pretty far-fetched. Are you sure that how it happened?"

"I'm sure. Everyone can vouch for me since they were there, right guys?" I reply.

"Mii, it's true. Mikey just appeared out of nowhere, with a big boom!"

Satoko adds, "Yeah, he was pretty beaten up. We had to call 'The Manager' in to look at him."

I look at Mion, since I don't know who she's referring to.

She whispers to me. "That's what we call Irie-Sensei."

"I see."

Keiichi appears a little confused then asks, "So, are you like a super hero or something?"

"Not that I know of. Unless my power is traveling worlds by getting hit by trucks."

He replies, "Well that's really amazing then. It's pretty cool to meet someone from another world. It's like meeting an alien."

_Alien?_

"I'm not an alien. I'm human. I promise." I reply, as a small sting hits my heart.

"I know. I'm just saying."

It's clear that he meant no harm so I feel at ease.

Class finishes up and, Mion and I get ready to head to our jobs. Mion explains our club to Keiichi and tells him that he should join up next week.

_I knew she wouldn't be able to wait._

He tells her that he will think about it. Mion and I head out. We begin talking about Keiichi. Mion asks me what I think of him, and I tell her that he seems like a pretty cool guy. I also tell her that I am glad that I will be able to make a guy friend. She teases me.

"What, you don't like having so many girl friends?"

"It's not like that. I am blessed to have all you guys as friends. I just feel that it's also good to have friends of the same gender. Someone that I can relate to more."

She agrees with me.

"I can see where you're coming from."

She asks me about if I think that he'll join our club.

"It's hard to say. If he does, we have to make sure to not do an excessively harsh punishment game for him, so he doesn't run away."

"Who says he will be the one doing the punishment game that day?" she replies.

"Oh? I thought that, that's how we do things in club. Aren't we going to play some 'old maid' with him? I think I've memorized the cards enough to do well now."

"Since when did you memorize the cards?"

I start laughing. I had been taking the cards and memorizing them by their scratches for a couple of weeks, without anyone knowing.

"You cheater." She teases.

I play along. "Cheater?!? What happened to rule number two?"

She starts laughing.

"Yeah, you're right."

We continue walking, with our hands intertwined. Soon we have to part ways though and head to our jobs.

I finish my regular assignments and begin tending the store. I am still doing so when Mion walks in.

"Hey, what's up? Finished already?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

"Yep. Just came by to keep you company." She replies.

I finish up my time and we head back home. As we turn the corner, Mion trips over a motorcycle. My reflexes are fast, and I am able to keep her from falling, but the bike topples into the next one, which then topples into the one after that. Not a second later we hear, "Hey! What do you think you are doing to our bikes?!?"

We turn around to see a group of three punks. All have angry expressions on their faces. As they are standing over us, glaring down on us, I apologize.

"I'm sorry, we just were coming around the corner and we accidentally bumped into it."

They did not appear pleased.

"Yeah, well how are you going to pay for it?"

I am unable to answer their question as there is no damage to the bikes. Another punk adds. "Yeah, you can't just go around pushen' peoples bikes over and then not expect to pay for it." I apologize again, but they don't listen.

"I know. It looks like you got a pretty, young girl here with you. You can use her to pay for what you've done."

My temper flares, but I try not to resort to violence.

"Look, I'm really sorry that we knocked over your bikes, but you DID park them in a spot that was hard to see."

They ignore me. I can see their lustful eyes staring at Mion. She only stares at them angrily. One of the punks reaches out for her. My training immediately kicks into action. I quickly grab the punk's arm, twist it around, and push him to the ground with my foot. The other two react, and charge me. I avoid the punch from the closest one and deliver a blow to his stomach. The second one draws close, and I dodge under his blow. He is nearly on top of me so I rise up and punch him under his chin. The blow is enough to send him flying up and back a bit. He lands hard on top of the second punk. The first punk gets back up. This time, he has a scared look on his face. When his friends get back up he says, "Let's get out of here! This guy's crazy!"

After the guys speed off on their motorcycles, I turn to Mion. She is smiling. I ask her, "Are you okay?"

She replies, "Yep. Thanks to you."

I scratch my head, embarrassed.

We interlace our hands again and resume walking. Mion turns to me as we walk.

"Looks like your training is actually good for something."

We don't often talk about my training since she hasn't ever been too happy about it, in the past, but she seems to be okay with it now.

"Yeah. I was hoping that I wasn't going to need to use it, but they weren't listening to me." I reply.

"I'm glad you were here. Who knows what would have happened if I was alone."

I turn to her. "Nothing would have happened. You would have kicked their asses just like I did."

She laughs.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I do have some martial arts training like you do. I'm still glad that you were here though."

We smile at each other.

We end up remaining silent most of the way back home. I am just about to say something to her, to break the silence, when suddenly I feel a sharp pain, at the base of my neck.

_Oh no!_

I fall to the ground as my entire body crumples from the pain in my back. The pain is so intense that I am unable to even hear sound. I open my eyes to see Mion. She is extremely worried and she appears to be saying something, but I can't hear her. My ears are ringing too loud to hear anything. After a minute or two, the pain starts to subside. The ringing in my ears goes away and I can talk again.

"I'm…okay!" I say between breaths.

"Mike, what's going on? What happened?"

It takes me a little bit of time, but I explain my situation. After a while, the pain goes away completely.

I try to stand back up, but Mion pushes me back down. I explain to her that I'm okay now. "This has happened before."

"WHAT?!?" She practically screams.

"Mion, calm down. I'm fine now."

"How can I be calm? My boyfriend just falls to the ground and crumples up in pain. What the heck am I supposed to do? Just watch you suffer?" She cries out.

"I know Mion, but there isn't anything you could do. There's no use being upset about it now since I'm fine. I just need to go to Irie's to see what's wrong with me."

"What did he say the first time you went?" She asks.

I am hesitant to tell her.

"Hehe, well…I forgot to go in last time."

"MIKE!"

She is clearly not pleased.

She decides that we are going to see the doctor right now, so I don't forget later. We arrive at the clinic, and Mion explains what happened. Irie takes me into a room and examines my back.

"You say that it feels like something is trying to force its way out of your back?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what it feels like. It feels like more though. I feel like whatever it is, is attached to my entire body. I can feel, whatever it is, all the way through me."

"I see. This is very odd."

At that time a nurse with blonde hair comes in with a needle. Irie explains, "This is Takano-san. She will be taking a blood sample so we can figure out what's going on with you."

When I look at the nurse, I can't help but feel a bit a fear and anger towards her. It's not because she's going to be taking my blood though. I am unable to understand why I am feeling this way towards her.

_This pain must be getting to my head or something._

After my blood is drawn, Takano leaves the room. Irie continues to examine me. He finds nothing. He tells me that it might be a skeletal problem and that I should come back in sometime to take an x-ray. We agree on a time, and I am released. As we leave the room Mion comes up to us. She still has a very worried expression on her face. Irie explains that he was unable to find anything, but is having me come back in to have an x-ray. He tells her the date that we decided on and she commits it to memory. She will make sure that I don't forget this time.

We leave and head back to the mansion. Along the way she turns to me.

"Why didn't you tell me about this Mike?" She asks.

"Mion, I didn't want to worry you. I just happened one time. I was hoping that it was going to be the last time."

She is extremely upset.

"You can't just assume that Mike. What if you were doing something dangerous, like riding the bike? If you were on the road from Okinomiya, you could have fallen off the cliff. Then what?"

I don't even have to answer her. I would have been killed. She would have never known why.

"I'm sorry Mion. I shouldn't hide things like this from you. I just didn't want you to worry. It hurts me to see you worry."

She understands that I was trying to protect her.

I add something else, "Even if you had known, you couldn't have done anything about it. It still happened. If I was riding the bike, I could have fallen over the cliff. Yes, you can tell me that I can't ride the bike, but that wouldn't be reasonable. I am planning on getting my own bike soon anyways."

"I know. I was just scared Mike. I didn't know what was happening to you. I didn't know how to help. All I could do was watch as you went through the pain."

She looks like she is about to cry. I stop and pull her close to me.

"Don't worry about me. It's just pain. I'll live through it. It's not like it's a permanent thing. Even if it happens again, I will make it through."

She holds me tight. Luckily, she is able to control herself and lets me go.

I add one more thing. "I am glad that you were there though. It made it better for me when the pain went away. The first time, I had to go through it alone."

She smiles.

"I'm glad that I could be there for you."

We continue walking. We arrive about an hour later than normal. We decide to skip on dinner as it probably would keep us up at night. Mion takes her bath, and I take mine when she finishes. I head to her room to say good night. We go over the day. After we finish, we give each other a quick hug and kiss, and I head back to my room. After I have pulled out my futon, I find that sleep takes over quickly as my body is exhausted from my experience, earlier. My dream is not a happy one. It is a dream of murders. Specifically, of the continuous, murder of Rika Furude.


	9. Chapter 8: Denial

Chapter 8: Denial

When I wake up, I find my body completely soaked with sweat. It is shaking as well. Images of my nightmare flash across my mind. I am finally able to calm down after a minute or two. _It was just a dream. It didn't really happen_. I am unsure of myself though, as I have never had a dream as vivid as the one I experienced just now.

The dream was like a scene from a horror film, or rather, more like multiple scenes from multiple horror films. I was forced to watch as the friends, that I have come to know and love, begin to turn on each other. I watched as Keiichi murdered Mion and Rena, and later himself, because he thought that they were trying to kill him. I saw Shion become deranged and murder them all in grotesque ways. Only Rena survived Shion's onslaught. I saw as Keiichi and Rena murder people who I am unfamiliar with. The last thing that I saw was Rika.

In almost every scenario, Rika is killed by some unknown entity. I am always unable to make out her murderer, because they are completely enveloped in shadow. Rika is killed by this person every time, except for once. Shion, was the one to kill her, rather Rika killed herself by repeatedly stabbing herself in the neck, to avoid being tortured to death, by Shion. Every time Rika is killed, I see the school. In the school, lie the bodies of the entire village. I watch as the entire village is shoved into the school, and gassed to death. Those that escape are immediately shot.

My stomach churns from seeing the scenes in my head. I can't understand why I dreamt of such a horrible thing. The main focus seemed to be on Rika though. When I think about it, I feel that Rika's deaths are what are the most important.

_I'll have to ask her about it later today._

I look at the clock. It reads, "3:38 A.M." I'm up really early today. I decide not to go back to bed as I am afraid that I will begin dreaming of the murders again. I tell myself that it was just a dream, and that my friends would never do anything like that.

Since I have a while before training, I decide to get up for the day. I put away my futon, and prepare some tea for myself. As the water is heating, I do some stretches to loosen my body up. When the water is heated, I pour myself some tea and drink it. I then wait till it's time for training.

At training Sensei comes up to me.

"I heard that you got some good out of your training the other day."

Remembering the incident with the punks, in town, I reply, "Yeah. They were just a bunch of punks who thought that they could do whatever they wanted. I tried to reason with them, but they didn't listen."

Sensei chuckles a bit. "Perhaps you should have taught them their lesson before they tried anything."

I consider what she said for a second then answer, "No, I think that it is better to try to reason something out before you resort to violence. Only when everything else has failed, should you use violence, and only for defense, at that."

"That is very wise." She replies. "What do you think about the dam war then?"

Her question takes me by surprise. I think about it for a second before answering.

"I know that negotiations weren't working out, so I believe that it was right for the villagers to band together and fight the government. I have just recently come here, but I would have fought the government as well, because I consider this my home. I don't think it was a good thing that the dam worker was murdered though."

"I see Mion has filled you in on what happened." She replies.

"Yes, ma'am."

"It is unfortunate that the damn worker was killed, but it all seemed to work out in the end." She continues.

It seems to me that Sensei wasn't behind the murder. She definitely has the power to have such a thing happen. I am glad though, since it seems that she didn't order this one.

After we finish our talk, we begin training. Today is a martial arts day, so Shinji begins by showing me a technique and then he has me repeat it. After I have learned how to do the technique well, we begin to spar. After being pinned to the floor a third time, Shinji makes a comment on my performance.

"You don't seem to be on the top of your game today."

"I didn't sleep well last night." I reply.

We continue to spar a bit more, till Sensei tells us that training is over for the day. My body is sorer today than it usually is, because I was unable to defend myself as well. I head to the kitchen for some breakfast. Like usual, Mion is there waiting for me. She smiles as I enter and says, "Good morning." I do the same.

"Breakfast is almost ready so, go sit down." She orders.

"Kay." I reply.

I sit down and watch Mion. She finishes in about five minutes and brings me some breakfast. Before I dig in, I say "itadakimasu". When we finish our food, we head off together. We skip the bike, since it's a work week for Mion. We walk together to the school. When we arrive, I am careful not to spring any traps. It seems that the ones, that are set, aren't meant for me, since they are easily spotted, if one is looking for them. I check my chair before sitting, just to make sure. If I start to let my guard down, I'm sure Satoko will take advantage of it. As I sit in my seat, I let out a loud yawn. Rika walks over to me; Hanyuu is right behind her.

"Mii, it seems Mikey is a bit tired today. Did you go to sleep really late last night?" She asks.

Mion appears to be listening, as I can see her turn our way, through the corner of my eye.

"No, I just had a nightmare last night, is all." I reply.

She pats me on the head. "Poor Mikey. Dreams are supposed to be happy. Nipah!"

Mion chimes in.

"At least it was just a dream, right Mike?"

"Yeah, I guess." I reply, still unsure about it.

After a while, Chie-Sensei enters the room. Later, Shion comes in and takes a seat. We greet her as she comes in. We then talk for a bit, but are interrupted by a loud, clanging sound. Moments later Keiichi rushes in.

"Who was it?!?" He roars.

"That would be the "Trap Master" over there." I say, as I point to Satoko.

"You traitor, Micheal-kun!" She bursts out.

I laugh as Keiichi take off after Satoko.

With the morning antics coming to a close, class begins. The lessons today are pretty difficult so I find that I am not able to finish in record time like normal. I am also called to help out so I just barely finish my work, in every subject, before lunch begins. _I need to get some sleep tonight. _I head over to Rika and tell her I have something to ask her about.

We meet out back. I am starting to think that this is my secret meeting place.

"What did you want to talk about Mikey?" She asks.

"Well actually, it's about my dream last night."

"Your scary nightmare?" She asks.

"Yeah, it was pretty disturbing."

I begin to explain what I saw in my dream and how Rika seemed to be the focus of all of it. She looks stunned. After a couple of seconds she looks at me, smiles really big, and says, "It was just a dream Mikey. There is nothing to be worried about. Nipah!"

I am unsure about her reply. She seemed to know what I was talking about when I was explaining it. As I look at her though, I am convinced that she is not going to tell me about it.

"Alright then, thanks anyways." I begin to head back to class, but then think of something else to add. "If you need someone to talk to, I would be willing to lend you an ear, Rika."

"Mii, I'll keep that in mind Mikey. See you later!"

I turn and head back to the classroom.

* * *

"Hau, au. Rika! Why did you say that?!? You know that Mike's nightmare was true!"

"I know Hanyuu!"

Rika stares at the ground. Her feelings are conflicting inside of her. She feels that this boy is special, but she has grown attached to him. He is a part of their group. It's like he's always been there. She doesn't want to involve him in this. She doesn't want to see him get hurt.

"It's best that he doesn't know. I don't want him to be involved in this mess."

"Hau, but Rika! What if he doesn't come with us to the next world? What if this is the only world that Mike will be in? He is different from us. If he dies, then it will probably be all over for him."

Rika's heart is hit with the impact of her friend's words. She begins to break down. She doesn't know what to do. She doesn't want this new friend to die. She can't ask for his help, because he will be an obstacle for her murderer, and he will be removed. She can't ignore his help, because she knows that he will be killed with the rest of the village after her death. She begins to weep.

"Au, Rika."

Hanyuu goes over to her friend, trying her best to comfort her.

* * *

The rest of class goes by quickly. By the time I realize it, class is already over. After waving goodbye to everyone, Mion and I head off to work. As we walk, Mion asks me a question.

"Mike, what was your nightmare about?"

I look down, sadly.

"I'd rather not talk about it. It was just a dream."

She spins herself so she is now standing in front of me. I am forced to stop. She has a sad expression on her face.

"Come on Mike. Don't you trust me?"

I sigh.

"Of course, I trust you. I just really don't want to talk about it right now."

She still has a sad expression on her face. Wanting to make her feel better I compromise with her.

"Tell you what, I'll tell you tonight when we review the day, if you remind me, okay?

She brightens up. Only just a little though.

"Okay."

She returns to my side and we resume walking. The remainder of the day goes normally. After I finish work, Mion and I walk home together. I eat my dinner, take a bath, and I head to her room. We embrace when I enter. Feeling her close to me makes me feel warmth and happiness again. After a minute, we release each other and sit down. I start to tell her about my nightmare. She stares at me with a serious expression the whole time as I explain about every scenario I saw. After I finish she moves closer to me and hugs me. I return her hug.

"It's just a dream, Mike."

"I know it is, but I just can't shake the feeling of how real it was to me."

She looks at me for a second then asks, "You went off with Rika at lunch today. Did you ask her about it?"

"I did. She said the same thing that you said." I reply.

"There you go, Mike. You say that Rika seems to be the focus of the dream, so if anyone would know anything about it, Rika would."

"I guess so." I reply.

I am still unconvinced about it all. I have a feeling that Rika is hiding something from me.

_Not like I can force it out of her though. She knows I'm there for her. If she wants my help, she'll ask for it._

We finish up our review of the day. I give Mion a good night hug and kiss and head off to bed. I can only hope that my dreams will be free of murders and death tonight. Sleep begins to take hold, and my mind shuts off, so my body can perform its daily repairs. A smirk appears on my lips as I dream of the antics of our beloved club.

* * *

The rest of the week went normally. I did not have any more nightmares about murder or anything like that. I was able to enjoy life as it came. There was one point in the week though, that wasn't quite normal.

Shion had asked me if I could meet with her, after school, one day. It appeared that something was bothering her, so I agreed to meet her. I apologized to Mion, telling her that her sister needed me for something. Her only reply was, "Don't do anything stupid okay? Shion's a sly one." I comfort her by saying, "You can trust me Mion. I don't think that she wants to do something like that. Something's really bothering her." She agreed with me and went on ahead.

After everyone had gone home, I went back into the school to see what was up with Shion. When I entered, I saw her sitting on a desk. Her head was hanging, and it was obvious that she was in a lot of pain.

"I'm jealous of Nee-san." She told me.

"Jealous that she has a boyfriend?" I asked.

"Not exactly."

She begins to tell me about her experience with Satoshi, and how his family was being looked down upon since ever since the dam war. They supported the dam's construction and now are being shunned by the village.

She also told me how she shouldn't even be alive right now.

"There can only be one heir to the Sonozaki family. I was supposed to be strangled to death at birth, but I was shown mercy. I was lucky to even be allowed to move here."

I started to understand her situation. She was an unwanted child, so she was sent away to boarding school, and practically ignored. It would be looked down upon for her to be with Satoshi, because the village had him, and his family, branded as traitors. I also see why she is so jealous of me and Mion.

"Your family wouldn't have a problem with me and Mion being together, because she is the heir."

"Exactly." She replied, as she hung her head even more.

I became angry.

"That's not fair!!!" I yelled.

She looked up in surprise.

"It's not your fault that you were second to come out! The fact that you should have been murdered at birth is ridiculous! Your life has value, just like anybody else's! That's total bullshit!!!"

Shion looked down again, but seemed to feel a bit better as she had a slight smile on her face.

"I'm glad you agree with me, Mike-kun."

I made a promise to her then.

"Shion, when Satoshi comes back, we will go to Sensei and together will fight for your right to be with him. You are a person, just like everybody else. No one can take your right, to love, away."

She began to giggle a little, which then turned into a laugh.

"Mike-kun, think about what you're saying. You want to go against oni-baba. You shouldn't think that she will go easy on you, just because you're her student. She made me rip off three of my fingernails, just to live here, and come to your school, and I'm her granddaughter."

I am reminded of what Shion had to go through.

"Then I will rip my own fingernails off for you; even if I have to do, every, single one of them. I will continue to do it until she sees that you also deserve to be treated like a human being."

She stared at me for a couple of seconds, in complete shock.

"Mike-kun…" After her pause, she continued. "Don't be stupid! You can't do that for me! I'm not Mion; I'm just her sister!"

"I know that you aren't Mion, but you are something to me." I paused before I continued. "You are my friend, Shion. Friends take care of each other and fight for each other. If you tell what you have told me to any of our friends, I'm sure that they would be right behind me, when we go to fight Sensei."

She began to cry. My words touched her. She saw the truth in them. She then ran over and hugged me. I gently return the hug. She whispered in my ear, "Thank you, Mike-kun. Thank you so much." I held her till she was finished crying, then she released her hold on me. She then told me, "I'm so glad that you came here. I've never had a friend as good as you. Mion's so lucky to have you."

I smiled at her and replied, "Yeah, just make sure that when you and Satoshi get married, I get to be the best man."

She stared at me for a second then begins laughing. I began laughing as well. After we got a hold of ourselves she teased, "Nah, I thought that I was going to make Kei-chan be the best man."

"Ah Shion, you're so mean!"

We laughed again. When we were both finished, she turned to me.

"Thanks for hearing what I had to say Mike-kun. I'm really glad that I have you to talk to."

I replied, "No problem. I'm glad that I could be some help."

We then headed our separate ways. Later that day, I explained to Mion what we talked about.

"I see. She's okay now though right?"

"Yeah, I was able to help her out."

"Are you really sure about going to Baa-chan like that? You have no idea how much it hurts to have your nails ripped off like that."

"I'm sure Mion. Shion is my friend. I have to fight for her if she is in need, just like I would fight for any of my friends, if they needed it. No amount of pain can stop me. I wouldn't be much of a man if I wussed out because I was scared of a little pain. Pain is only temporary anyways." I explained.

"I'm just saying; I also ripped three of my nails off, because it wasn't fair for Shion to have to go through that alone. We're twins after all. It was not fun though; not fun at all."

I smiled at her.

"You're a good sister, Mion."

The weekend came and Mion invited me to hang out with her and Rena. Apparently they were going to give Keiichi a tour of the city. I had to decline though, since I told my boss that I could come in and work a little on my day off. I suggested that they stop by, if they were in the neighborhood. Though sad that I wouldn't be able to come, she was happy when I suggested that they visit. When they came in, I asked Keiichi how his tour was going. He told me about where they had gone and how it went. When they were told that they were going to visit me at work, Rena became ecstatic. She wanted to look at all the antiques in the store. Sure enough, I saw her moving from antique to antique going, "Hau, Hau! It's so cute! I want to take it home." At everything she comes across. I explain to her that she has to buy it, if she wants to take it home, or else it's stealing.

It was near time me to head off so I joined them on the rest of their tour. It was around noon so we headed to Mion's place to grab some lunch. She had me help her make lunch, and we pack it in a picnic basket. We then headed back out, to tour Hinamizawa. We set up our lunch at the Furude shrine. Seemingly out of nowhere, Satoko and Rika appeared.

"Mii, looks like they are having a picnic and we weren't invited."

Mion then told them that they could join us.

We all agree, except for Keiichi, who claimed that there wasn't enough for Satoko. As the two began their squabbling, the rest of us began eating. In the end, it turned out to be a very good meal. Even the pieces, that I made, turned out well. After lunch, Mion suggests we have a club meeting. I pointed out that we needed Shion if we were going to have a club meeting, and Keiichi hadn't agreed to join yet. She pouted a little then decided that we were just going to continue the tour. Rika and Satoko, thanked us for the meal, but were unable to join us as they had things to do.

After the tour, we walked Keiichi and Rena home. Mion and I then headed back home, ourselves. We finish the day up with our usual activities and then head to bed.

The only thing special, about the next day, was my appointment with Irie. Mion walked with me to the clinic. I went in to take my x-ray, and then waited till they were ready. He then called me in to take a look.

"There seems to be some abnormal growths in your back." He explained, as he pointed to the two blotches, attached to my spine. "I believe the pain that you are feeling is probably from the growth of these…things."

"Can we remove them?" I asked.

"I don't know. They are attached directly to the spine. The possibility of damaging the spinal cord during the operation may be too great." He explained.

"Is there a chance that these things will kill me?"

"I am also unsure about that. We have no idea what those things are. If you like, you can come back in and we can check on its progress."

I was forced to accept his offer. There was nothing else I could do. We agreed on a time, and I would be coming in, a couple of days after the Watanagashi Festival. I then headed out to let Mion know the news. She nearly broke down right there. I did my best to comfort her.

"We don't know if it's terminal. It's not like I'm going to die from this."

"You don't know that! You said that he couldn't tell what it was. For all you know, you could die tomorrow!"

She was convinced that she was going to lose me. I wrapped my arms around her and held her. I repeated, "I'm right here." Into her ear, until she stopped crying. It was all I could do for her. She was completely right. I could die at any second. I was scared; scared for her, and for myself. I didn't want to lose her anymore than she wanted to lose me.

The next day I decided to tell my friends the truth. Mion was against it at first, but I explained that if I was killed by this thing, I want my friends to know beforehand, instead of being blindsided by it. When I finished explaining, my friends could only stand there, in shock. The first to move was Rika. She walked up to me and hugged me. When she lifted her eyes, I could see tears flowing down her face.

"Don't go Mikey!!!" She yells at me. "We love you too much for you to go!"

The next to embrace me was Satoko. She was followed by Shion. The rest of the gang came to embrace me in a group hug, even Keiichi. They all had tears in their eyes, and were all telling me not to go. I could even see Hanyuu, standing close by. She also appeared to have tears in her eyes.

"Guys, I'm not going anywhere." I tried to comfort them. They cling to me, as if they know that if they let go, I will disappear forever. I am finally able to come up with something to comfort them. "Come on guys. You're starting to make be believe that I'm actually going to die." They released me. "I'm not going to let something like this keep me down. I'm going to fight it."

Mion added her encouragement, as she regains her own strength.

"Mike's right, guys. We need to encourage him on this. We aren't going to let this keep us down."

The club members nodded their heads in agreement.

"You guys can't be any nicer to me, because you think I'm dying or something, okay? I will be seriously mad if I notice you guys treating nicer than usual." They are comforted by my spirit. I then added something, on a whim. "I might just start flipping some desks and throwing chairs."

They all laughed. I smiled as well. I seem to be very good at making my friends laugh in those kind of situations. By the time class is over, everyone has completely recovered. We had our first club meeting with our newest member, Keiichi. We decided to play some "Old Maid". Naturally, Keiichi was singled out, with the rigged playing cards. For his punishment game, we painted his face like a dog, with a sharpie. Rena was all over him, saying how cute he was. He had to restrain her when she threatened to take him home with her. I was glad that everyone was back to normal. The rest of the day was very relaxing.

The remainder of the week went on normally. Keiichi began coming to club every day. Every day, he would be subjected to the punishment game. I was surprised that he showed up every day, but he was a real trooper. He was determined to win against, Shion and Satoko; his biggest opponents.

I was able to use some of my money to take Mion out on another date. We were able enjoyed our time together again. I decided that I would take Mion out, once every week, and save the rest for my other needs. The first thing on my list was a bike, so that I didn't have to keep borrowing Mion's.

Life had become quite the pleasure. I had never had times like this in my old world. I was truly happy here. Nothing could take my joy away. Not even my back could worry me. Everything is perfect.

* * *

I find myself on top of the roof, of one of the buildings, near the school. So far I have been completely safe from the zombie apocalypse. Satoko was the first to be infected. She quickly took after Keiichi, who had sacrificed her. Luckily, he was able to escape and find refuge in the tool shed.

While Keiichi hides in the tool shed, Satoko has managed to infect Rika, Mion, and Shion. Though, it seems to me that Mion and Shion are just pretending. If I end up being infected myself, I'll make sure to infect them myself.

I watch as Rika meets up with Rena. Just as she is about to become infected herself, she goes to the tool shed, and begins to beg for Keiichi's help. I chuckle to myself.

_That's how to fight dirty_

Keiichi is easy prey; he is trapped in the shed; there will be no escape for him. I hear his screams of terror, from the roof, as he is "devoured". A few moments the newly infected zombie leaves the shed along with the other zombies. After falling to the floor in despair, he becomes invigorated, as he seeks his revenge on Rena, for betraying him.

Rika catches sight of Rena as she runs behind the buildings I am hiding on.

_Damn it. She might give me away._

She runs to the other side of the building, only to be stopped by Mion and Rika. When she turns around, she finds that she has been cornered. I feel sorry for her. She has been totally backed into a corner. She had it coming though; betraying Keiichi like she did. He begins advancing on her, eager to exact his revenge. Just as he is about to take his revenge, she says, "As long as it's you Keiichi-kun. I'll trust you."

I can barely contain myself. Such an underhanded trick. I never knew Rena could be so cunning. Keiichi is completely paralyzed. Luckily for Rena, his hesitation is just enough for the bell, signaling for class to resume, to ring. She immediately begins jumping for joy as she has survived the apocalypse. Satoko begins scolding Keiichi for hesitating, since she doesn't know why anything about puberty. As she is ranting about his idiocy, Mion announces the winner.

"Alright, the winners of today's game are these four: Rena, Shion, Mike, and Me." She then adds, "Where is Mike anyways?"

_There's my cue._

I leap down, from the roof. I perform a front-flip and land in front of the group.

Mion doesn't appear amazed by my grand entrance though.

"That was lame Mike."

I chuckle.

"Mion you're so mean. Everyone else thought it was cool though, right guys?"

They begin taking turns telling me that it lame.

"Thanks guys. Love you too." I reply sarcastically.

I give them a sour expression. Rika gives me a pat on the head.

"It's ok Mikey. I thought that you were cool when you jumped off of the roof. Nipah!"

"Thanks Rika." I give her my honest thanks.

Mion announces that its time for the punishment game to begin. Rika and Satoko are forced to wear maid outfits, while Keiichi is forced to wear a Swan princess outfit. I am enjoying having Keiichi around, since he seems to be the target for the punishment games now. I have found that the amount of times I am forced to do the punishment game has decreased, dramatically.

I tag along as the others walk home. I need to go to work at some point, but I really want to enjoy this while I can. As Rena is going off about how she wants to take Rika and Satoko home with her, Irie comes out of nowhere. He begins spouting off, about how he will follow Satoko and Rika to the ends of the earth, and such. I am unsure if he is thinking through what he's saying, as his words are dancing in the realm of perversion. I am not the only one that thinks so, as Shion and Keiichi make comments about it.

As we are talking, another couple comes up to our group. I examine the two newcomers as they approach. One is a man, with a camera. The other is the nurse from Irie's clinic. I frown as I see her. My feeling of fear and hatred begin to boil back up in me, for no reason.

The two take their time admiring Keiichi's attire. The man is introduced to me as Tomitake. He offers to take Keiichi's photo, but naturally, Keiichi rejects him. Tomitake then explains that he is here to take some pictures of this year's Watanagashi Festival. I am reminded that the time for festival has almost come. Takano then adds that they are also here to see if "the chain of bizarre deaths" will continue this year. I am again reminded about what Mion told me. Each year at the festival; someone dies, and someone else goes missing.

Both Rika and Satoko look down. This is probably not something to discuss in front of these two, as their parents were both subjected to "the curse". Irie appears to be thinking the same, and voices his opinion, after Takano has explained "the chain of bizarre deaths" to Keiichi. She apologizes to Rika and Satoko, but she doesn't appear to be very sorry, at all, to me.

She then turns to me.

"Ah, if it isn't "the boy who appeared from nowhere". It seems that you have been able to adjust to your new life, here in Hinamizawa." Her tone of voice begins to anger me even more. She seems to be mocking me. "It certainly is strange how you just came out of nowhere. Perhaps you are really an alien experiment; sent to earth, to study us."

Everything freezes. I can hardly believe she said that. I stare at the woman in front of me. Her lips appear to be formed into a smile. I seriously want to kill this woman. I use all my effort to calm myself.

"S-sorry. I have to get to work now. Don't want to be late. My boss will whack me on the head if I'm late."

I mount the bike, which I am pushing, and ride off ahead of the group. I come to a small building at the crossroads. I park the bike and punch the building as hard as I can. Blood begins to flow from my fist. Rage flows through my mind.

_How dare her! She practically called me an alien, myself! What the hell is wrong with her?!?_

My hatred for her seems to have been justified.

_At least now I have a reason to actually hate her._

After a minute or two, Mion, Rena, Shion, and Keiichi come running up to me. Rika and Satoko were probably sent home. Mion speaks first.

"Mike, are you okay?" She sees my bleeding hand, and takes it.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." I reply sarcastically.

"That woman; I don't know what got into her, to say something like that." Shion says.

"Yeah, I mean, even if you did come out of nowhere; that doesn't mean that you aren't human." Keiichi adds.

"That was a really rude thing to say to Mike-kun, it was." Rena states.

"Don't take what she says to heart Mike. She's just a stupid woman." Mion tries to comfort me. "We all know that you are human. What she said is just a stupid lie, she made, to make get under your skin."

"Yeah, well she did a good job. I didn't really like her before, but now…"

After a while, my anger finally settles down. Keiichi seems a bit jumpy so I ask what's up. He asks about what Takano was saying earlier; about "the chain of bizarre deaths".

Mion begins explaining what happened in the past. After she finishes, she apologizes to Keiichi for keeping him in the dark, until now. Fortunately, he just laughs it off, and says that everybody has their secrets that they want to keep to themselves.

After everything is sorted out, I head off to work. I'll be a little late today, but I can make up for it over the weekend. When I finish work, I head back to the mansion, perform my nightly tasks, and head off to bed. As I am lying in my futon, getting ready to sleep, I remember what Takano said.

_I will never get along with that woman. Never!_


	10. Chapter 9: PreWatanagashi

Note: There will be a little bit of erotic in this chapter. It won't be very much though. I don't think that it will be too bad, but I'm posting this as a warning.

* * *

Chapter 9: Pre-Watanagashi

The weekend has come. It seems that Mion has already made the plans for the club activities. Today, we are having a baseball game against the Okinomiya Titans. Unfortunately, I have to work for the first half of the game.

We have been given some time off from school because the festival is right around the corner. Since I had some free time, I offered to work early today. It was only after the fact that Mion let me know of her plans for the weekend.

"…But Mike" She whines. "We really need you!"

"I'm sorry Mion. I really would like to help out, but I already told my boss that I would come to work early." I apologize. "I'll probably be able to come in later though. Maybe, I can get in before the game is completely one-sided."

She sighs, but she gives in.

"Alright. You better get there quick though! If we lose this game, I'm going to have you do the punishment game!"

I sigh.

"How fair is that?!? I wanted to work early so I could have the rest of the day free."

She retorts. "Yeah, well you should have thought of that beforehand. Maybe I knew that you were going to work later so I set up the game earlier. Geez, you're so useless sometimes."

I rebut to her last statement. "Ah well, I guess you don't need me at all then, if I'm so useless. I might as well just sit on the bench if I get there. I might as well take my time since I'll probably just make the game worse."

She puts on an evil expression.

"Alright Mike. You can do that if you want. I'll just have to double the punishment for you." She adds in a sinister laugh.

_Scary!_

Slightly panicked, I try to get her back on my good side.

"N-n-n-nooo! Ah…wait! I'll make it! I'll definitely make it!!! I'll even win the game for you guys!" personality flips. She puts on a big smile and replies, "Great!" and as she walks off.

"Mental note: never skip something Mion wants to do." I say to myself.

Since my conversation with Mion has finished, I head off to work.

Work was pretty simple today. I didn't need to carry any big items in like normal. I am often baffled as to how my boss seems to get new large items, for me to carry, **everyday**.

_It's like he's doing it on purpose._

After I finish doing the inventory, I begin tending the store. Some people come in, here and there, but for the most part it is quite in the store. One man came into the store, carrying a sheathed sword.

He looked to be about seventy to eighty years of age. He came up to the counter.

"Can I help you, sir?" I ask politely.

He gives of a little laugh. I don't know what's so funny, and this man seems kind of mysterious to me.

After he finishes laughing he hands me the sword.

"How much would you like for this, sir?" I ask.

"Nothing. It is a gift to you. Keep it safe young one." He replies as he gives me a mysterious smile.

Bewildered, I reply, "Uhh…thanks."

The man watches as I unsheathe the sword. It is a single-handed sword. The blade is small in width, near the hilt, but then, curves out as it goes up in length. It then comes back from the curve and meets at the point. There is an Opal jewel in the pommel of the sword. Remembering back to my sword, that I lost, I remember seeing an identical jewel in the pommel of that sword. The blade is the same shade of white as my missing sword as well.

It hits me that the two blades are connected. I turn to the man who was watching me, only to find him about to leave the store.

"Wait!" I call out to him.

When the man turns, I explain about what happened to the other sword, and ask if the two swords are connected. He only laughs and tells me, "It will show up again, when you need it the most."

"What about if the two are connected?"

His only reply is, "What do you think?"

I think for a second and say, "I think that they are."

The old man only smiles, and turns to leave.

I want to pursue him and ask him more questions, but I feel that he won't answer any of them.

I return to the counter. I pull my newly, obtained weapon from its sheath again. Overall, the sword is very beautiful. As I slash it through the air, I feel that it is and extension of my arm. I feel that it would be better for me to use this sword, rather than my katana.

I return to work when I realize that I'm slacking off, rather than working. The rest of my time goes by pretty quickly. Honestly, I am excited about the baseball game. I really want to show off my skills in front of everyone. More than that though, I don't want to do whatever punishment game Mion has for me. Just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine.

When my time was about up, the owner comes in. He asks me about the sword, and I tell him that the old man gave it to me as a gift. He seems skeptical, but after I offer it to him, to put up in his shop, he lets it go. Before I leave, he asks me if I can come in for a bit tomorrow. I am a little hesitant, after what happened today, with Mion, but I accept. Mion has work too so if we go to work at the same time, there shouldn't be a problem. We can also walk home together, which we don't get to do on the weekends, since I usually don't have work.

After I am released, I hop on the bike and petal as fast as I can to the park. I am exhausted when I arrive, but I made it in a decent amount of time. After I have parked the bike, I walk into the field. I am only able to take one step though. As soon as I have witnessed what is in front of me, I am unable to move, because of my confusion.

In front of me is the Okinomiya Titans. They are all standing in their field positions, staring at one boy. If I was given an hour, I don't think I could come up with a good explanation as to why Keiichi is standing in the middle for the Titans, holding a golf club, as if he is going to hit someone.

After a couple of seconds, Satoko comes up and whispers something to him. He then yells out, "IF IT WAS A BASEBALL GAME, TELL ME THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!"

_It seems there was a misunderstanding. Maybe he was told that we were playing golf or something._

I walk over to the bench where Mion, and my friends, are sitting. Mion greets me happily when she sees me. She then proceeds to scold me.

"I came here as fast as I could Mion. I swear!"

"Whatever, it's good that you're here now. We need some men to hit this guy's balls."

The way she phrases it amuses me, but I don't let myself chuckle, because she would just glare at me. Guess that's just how a man's mind works.

Keiichi is up. The first ball goes right past him, without him even swinging. It was moving too fast for him to hit it; much less, see it.

_What? Is this guy a pro or what?_

Keiichi isn't paying attention to his next pitches as he is arguing with Mion. He is struck out without even doing anything. With him out, it's my turn.

I step up to the plate. The pitcher gets ready to pitch. He winds up and lets the ball fly. It flies right into the catcher's mitt. I didn't even swing. Mion begins to yell at me. She keeps telling me to swing and that I'm as worthless as Keiichi, which then leads to Keiichi arguing with her, again. The next ball comes. It strikes the mitt of the catcher. Right when I hear the sound of it hit the mitt, I swing. The umpire was about to call ball, but changes it to strike, since I swung. I can see the pitcher snickering to himself.

He's probably thinking to himself. _This is too easy_.

The pitcher winds up again. I can already tell.

_Fastball._

*CHINK*

The ball goes flying. It flies far, and almost goes over the wall, (can you guess what im going to say here? NO COMMA! ^_^) on the left side, but it falls just short. The ball flies past me a second after I pass over third base. I quickly turn back and take my place on third.

_Damn._

The next two batters are easily struck out. I head back to the bench, discouraged.

Shion congratulates me on my hit and I thank her.

"Didn't do much good though."

"At least you were able to trick him. He thought that you were some push-over."

"That's true, but I doubt the same trick will work twice."

Shion frowns, seeing my point. Even Mion looks like she thinks it hopeless. Satoko then jumps up.

"I've got it!"

She then grabs Keiichi and pulls him off somewhere. After a while, Satoko comes back. I ask her what she was doing with Keiichi, but she only tells me to wait and see.

A little later, Keiichi returns, and the pitcher comes out after him. Keiichi gives Satoko, a thumbs up.

We are able to hold off the Titans when it is our turn. As our next turn on Offence comes, I find that things are a bit easier. In fact, it's too easy. I am easily able to hit a homerun, when my turn comes along. Three people end up scoring, including me. The pitcher seems to have given up. When I ask Keiichi about it he explains how he blackmailed the pitcher, with his own love of desserts. Apparently, the pitcher loves desserts more than anything, but is embarrassed to say so out loud, since it would make him appear less manly.

The game is over quickly, with a complete comeback victory for the Hinamizawa Fighters. Mion congratulates us on our victory; specifically, (no comma) Satoko and Keiichi. I say how I was glad to be able to help out as well. Mion then frowns. Confused as to why she would be upset, I ask what's bothering her.

"Oh, I was just looking forward to your punishment game, if we lost."

I sigh. "I really don't think that, that is something you should be upset about. Just be happy that we won."

"Ah well. I'll just have to save it for some other time."

She gives her evil grin again.

After the game, we all head out to eat, together. We have a good time, and before we know it, it's evening. We all head back home. After dinner, and my bath, I head over to Mion's room. We discuss the day like usual. She tells me that she was really glad that I could make it. I tease her by saying that she really didn't want me to come, so I would have to do the punishment game. She laughs, and denies my accusations.

I remember that my boss had asked me to come in tomorrow. I explain this to Mion. As I am explaining it to her, she begins to frown. She starts to smile again, though, when I explain that I will be able to do it when at the same time that she has work, and that we will be able to walk home together. We decide that I need to walk there earlier, since she is meeting up with Keiichi and Rena, and they are heading over there, on bike.

After we finish our talk, we embrace, and kiss. I then head off to bed.

The day was very productive, and I had a lot of fun. I remember the sword that the old man gave me. I decided to tie it to my katana, which Sensei had given me. Hopefully, it will still be there in the morning.

I am able to fall asleep quickly and my dreams are full of happiness and randomness, as most dreams are.

* * *

After training, I have some breakfast, and head out to Okinomiya. When I arrive at the game store, I see that many kids are already crowding around the entrance. After searching a little, I see Rika and Satoko. I also see Hanyuu behind Rika.

I walk over to them and greet them. They return my greeting. I ask them if they know what's going on today. They tell me that they don't know. Rika seems to know something though. I can tell because she hangs her head when I mentioned it. I ask her about it, but she only replies that it's nothing.

After a couple of minutes, Mion, Keiichi, and Rena arrive on their bikes. We go over to greet them. I ask Mion what we're doing today, but she is being too stubborn. She just keeps smiling and telling me, "You'll see." I end up letting it go without a fight.

When the owner opens up the store, we all head in. We talk about nothing till it's time to start. While we are talking, Keiichi notices Rika. She seems to be displeased about something. Keiichi asks her if she is bored. Her reply was somewhat confusing.

"It's not that I'm bored. It's just that I can't seem to get excited when I can see the outcome of the future."

_See the outcome of the future?_

Keiichi continues for clarification. He asks if she already knows what game we're going to be playing.

She tells him that she's just mumbling to herself, but he continues pressing. Next, he asks her if she heard what game we are playing from Mion.

She explains that she just knows.

_How can she just know? Is she a psychic or something?_

I then remember my dream about her repeated murders. I contemplate whether or not it actually happened. If they really did, then it would be possible that Rika has experience this type of scenario before; perhaps many times. I'll have to ask her again.

The owner comes to announce the game then. As he takes his place at the front of the table, I begin to feel a strange sense of déjà vu. A single word pops into my mind.

_Karuta._

Just as the word comes to my mind, the owner repeats the word. We will be playing Karuta. I am unable to understand how I knew. Rika doesn't look surprised so I assume she knew it as well.

_I definitely need to talk to her about this. I won't take no for an answer this time._

Our seating is decided by draw. I was lucky enough to get a seat by Mion. Also, Rika is to my left, sandwiched between me and Keiichi.

I overhear something Keiichi says to Rika. "I heard from the village elders that you are the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama, and you can predict the future, or something like that."

_Reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama?_

It begins to look more, and more likely that my dream truly did happen. If Rika really is being killed, and brought back to life, then she would definitely be able to predict future events, because she has already lived to see them come to pass.

She replies to him. "It's not a prediction. It's a fate that has already been decided." She continues to explain, "It's something no one can oppose. Neither I nor you, Keiichi."

_Fate. If she truly is stuck in this endless recursion of time, she must feel that it is her fate to die. She must be in a lot of pain and fear. Having to relive her death, over and over again._

My heart goes out to her. I am almost positive at this point that I am right about my dream.

It must have been Rika's mention of fate being unbreakable, but Keiichi suddenly gets excited. He explains that, to a man, there is no such thing as fate or destiny. He declares that he will destroy this "fate" of hers. He then proceeds to announce that we can't play Karuta, because he is a total master at it and it would be unfair to everyone else if they were to play it. I add in my opinion.

"I agree with Keiichi. I'm a foreigner so I know nothing of Japanese culture. I'd rather play something that I have an equal chance of winning."

Mion sees my point and asks the owner to bring out a new game. He brings out a game, of total chance. Having skill doesn't really come into play on a game like this.

I look over to Rika. Her expression has totally changed. She looks like she is having fun again. I am happy for her. It seems Keiichi was able to give her some hope.

Mion calls an end to the game, right as the clock strikes three. It's time for me and Mion to go to work. Keiichi complains about us running away, but Mion explains that we have work. Out of sheer whim, I decide to grab Mion's hand as we are standing next to each other. We don't usually show our affection around our friends, but I just suddenly had the urge to. It felt like I had to protect her or something. She doesn't resist, and instead wraps her fingers around my hand.

The owner has followed us out, and says that he will keep the grand prize till next time. As a booby prize, he gives Keiichi a present. He opens it up to find a doll.

"What the heck is this?!?" He complains.

Rena goes off about how cute it is how she wants to take it home with her. Mion says that Keiichi got something that doesn't really suit him. I go off of what Mion says.

"You never know. Maybe Keiichi really loves dolls and has a huge collection of them at his house."

Everyone laughs, except Keiichi, who is glaring at me.

"Ohohoho! I think Mike-kun's right. I bet Keiichi-san has hundreds of dolls at his place." Satoko adds.

His glare turns to Satoko.

Not wanting to get any more ridicule, he turns to Rena.

Just is he is about the hand it to her, I see Rika, who appears to be trying to stop him. She stops herself though, when she sees Mion and I holding hands.

Keiichi hands the doll to Rena, who gently thanks him. He looks like he is just glad to get it off his hands. I look at Mion. She seems to be staring at the doll. I smile. I know exactly what I am going to do.

We part ways with our friends and head off to our jobs.

I am let off after I finish the task, my boss needed me for. I am grateful since I have some time to pick up my gift for Mion. I head back to the toy store, where we had our tournament, and pick out the same doll Keiichi was given earlier. As I pay, the owner suggests that I am really the one with the doll obsession. I laugh it off and explain that it's for Mion. He points out that Mion doesn't really seem like the type to like this sort of thing, but I reassure him that she will like it.

After I buy it, I have just enough time to make it to Mion's workplace. I get there right as she gets off. Luckily, I brought my backpack with me today, so I was able to hide my gift without stirring up any suspicion. When we arrive home, I ask Mion if I can take the first bath. I explain that I have something to take care of before I meet up with her. She agrees to it. After I get out of my shower, I head to my room to prepare Mion's surprise.

I pull the doll out and unwrap it. I then take out a piece of paper and write a note for her.

It reads: _You may act like a tomboy all the time, and totally deny the fact that you have a girly side, but I know better. I know better than anyone that you have a wonderful girly side to you, so I decided to get this doll for you. When I saw how you were looking at the one Keiichi gave to Rena, I knew that this would be perfect for you. Take care of it. I hope you enjoy it. –Mike_

I head to her room. I set the doll, and note on the table. I then wait around the corner for her to return. After I see her enter her room, I wait a little bit, and then stand at the doorway. Her back is turned to me, but I can hear her sobbing. She turns to see me at the doorway. I take a step into her room and she runs to embrace me. She nearly knocks me over backwards.

"Do you like your present?" I ask.

She is barely able to respond through her crying.

"I love it. Thank you, Mike."

I hold her as she sobs. After a while, she sets the doll down, and closes the door. We embrace again, and kiss. I am enjoying the moment so much. I am so happy that I was able to make her cry tears of joy like that. Every guy dreams of being able to do that for the girl that they love. At least, that's what I think.

We continue kissing; unable to stop, because we are so happy. I don't realize it as my body starts to heat up. Our kissing quickly begins to turn into making out. Our breathing starts to become hastened, and uneven. Our hearts begins pumping blood, twice as fast as it was a second ago. I can feel myself becoming erect. My lust begins to take over. I begin to wish for her body. I want to run my hands all over her. I pull my arm from around her, and start to move it towards her chest. Just as I am about to touch her though, my conscience gives me a sharp kick. It tells me to stop. I decide to ignore it. I want this more than anything right now.

Mion realizes what I am doing. She places her hand on mine and presses my hand down upon her chest. I can feel her soft breasts underneath my hand. I begin rubbing the top of her breast. She lets out a sigh of pleasure. Hearing her makes me want it even more. I quickly get tired of just touching her through her clothes. I move my hand to her bare skin and begin to slip my hand under her robe.

I am again hit by my conscience. Again, it tells me that what I'm doing is wrong, and that I need to stop. I ignore it again and decide to continue. I move myself around, so I am behind her. I have a better position here. I also reach my other hand down and grab her hand. We intertwine our fingers together. She squeezes hard as I run my hand across the bare skin of her breast. I continue till I reach her nipple. She shudders as I touch it. As I play with it, she begins losing strength in her body. With our hands still entangled with each other, I reach around her stomach to support her. I then proceed to squeeze her breast, softly. She lets off a soft moan. I am enjoying this experience. I am giving pleasure to the girl that I love. Filling her up with pleasure is my only desire. I want to do anything for her, right now. My desires begin to boil up again though and I wish to see her naked body.

I am about to put her robe off her shoulders, but I am hit by my conscience once more. This time was quite a bit stronger than the last two times. I stop completely. In my mind are memories of my past. I remember how I used to do the same exact things with the other girl that I loved. I remember how it all ended in ruin, and how I felt like I lost my life that night. I knew it was true. I died that night. The person walking around every day after that moment was only a shell. It was only when that shell was hit by that truck, and brought into this world, that he gained life again. If he hadn't been hit, he would still have been a walking shell.

My memories drain the lust and desire from my body. I immediately feel guilty, and remove my hands from Mion. I step back, in shame.

She is about to pursue me, but her conscience hits her at that time, and she halts. She begins to feel the guilt and shame as well. Tears begin to fall from her eyes. Seeing her, I almost begin to cry as well. Everything in me wants to go and comfort her, but I know from experience that it won't turn out well. We both gave into temptation, and we are both suffering from the consequences now.

After a couple moments, she turns to me.

"Mike...I'm so sorry. This is my fault."

I immediately become upset.

"Mion you can't blame yourself for this! We are both to blame."

She only stares at the floor.

"Look, we did what we did. We can't change that. The best we can do is to learn from this experience."

She seems to gain a little courage.

"Yeah."

I decide to walk over to her. Instead of embracing her, I just place my hands on her shoulders.

"We just have to be careful from now on. We have to be strict about our boundaries. We can't beat ourselves up about this either. We just slipped a little. It's normal."

She smiles a little and her tears stop.

"Yeah, you're right. We just made a little mistake. I just let my guard down a little, since you did such a nice thing for me."

"Oh now it's my fault." I tease.

She laughs.

"No, no! I loved what you did. I really do."

I smile.

"I'm really glad you liked it. It feels really good to make you happy." I add what I'm thinking. "…in more ways than one."

She coughs.

"Yes well, let's just keep it at emotional things for now."

I chuckle a little.

"Yeah, sounds good."

With our mess sorted out, we begin our daily review. Instead of sitting side-by-side like we usually do, we sit across from each other. When we finish, I get up to leave. Mion stands up as well. She looks a little sad. I was thinking of skipping our hug and kiss, given the circumstances, but it's clear to me that she wants to. I decide that it will be ok. I embrace her and give her a small kiss, being careful to not let it drag on. We release each other, and I head back to my room.

Though I am disappointed in myself for going beyond my boundaries, I am happy that I was able to make Mion happy. We just have to be careful. I know that we will make this work. If we do start messing around again, I need to remember my past, faster. A moment's pleasure is in no way better than months and years of pain and emptiness. With that thought in mind, I close my eyes and go to bed.


	11. Chapter 10: One Last Thing

Chapter 10: One Last Thing Before the Festival

All of Hinamizawa is in an uproar over the upcoming festival. People are running back and forth; preparing for it. Everyone is staying busy to help get ready.

Today, our club is working to clean off some old items, which are going to be sold at an auction. Our work mostly consists of dusting, and polishing. The work is simple, and I am enjoying being with my friends. It is more fun to work when you have someone to talk to and keep you company. Not to mention, I couldn't ask for a better group of friends.

Keiichi is having a hard time with his work. Apparently, Mion volunteered him for this without asking him. I chuckle as I remember his complaining. _That's just like Mion._

I hear Keiichi complaining again, from across the table. It seems that he doesn't understand the point of all this work. "It's not like any of this stuff is going to sell anyways! It's all junk!"

"That may be true Keiichi, but it's still our job to clean it up. We can't slack, since we are being depended upon." I reply.

He sighs. "Man, this is all Mion's fault. I was planning on spending the whole day doing nothing, but she had to sign me up for this."

I chuckle. "You know Mion. She can't let our Kei-chan slack off, for even one day."

He lets out another sigh and continues working. A bit later, Mion walks in. She asks how the work is going, and announces that she had the larger items sent to the shrine. Hearing that there is more work to do, Keiichi becomes dejected.

It's my turn to sigh. "Come on Keiichi. Lighten up. You aren't going to die or anything."

Mion adds to my efforts. "It's okay Keiichi. There's nothing to get so depressed about. Here, I even brought something for you guys to snack on."

Mion brings out a large box of ohagi. The, bean-paste covered, rice balls look delicious. My mouth waters as I look at them. Suddenly I am gripped by curiosity. "Did you make these yourself, Mion?"

"Nope! Sorry. Baa-chan made these for us." She replies.

"Ah, Sensei made them."

I am a little disappointed that it isn't Mion's cooking, but they still look delicious either way. As I take a bite out of the ohagi, I savor the taste. It is so much more delicious than it would be normally. Doing work like this really makes you appreciate little treats.

As I am finishing up my first ohagi, I notice Keiichi. I am surprised at what I see. He seems to be staring at his ohagi. _That's odd. I wonder if he doesn't like ohagi or something. Maybe something just got on it._ As I am thinking about it, Rika walks up to him and asks what's wrong.

Keiichi begins explaining to Rika that he is just having a feeling of déjà vu.

_I wonder if he's getting the same kind of feeling (feeling works but it would sound better as feelings, or left as feeling and cut kind of. ) that I've been having, recently._

She tells him that there is no such thing as a memory that didn't happen. She begins pushing him for details, but he is a little reluctant. She doesn't let up though. She seems to think that this is extremely important for some reason.

Keiichi continues to explain about this dream that he had. He tells about how he took a day off school for some reason, and Rena, and Mion came with some ohagi. He tries to stop one more time, but Rika is persistent. He finishes what he is saying. "…there was a needle inside."

Right as he finishes, Mion sees him staring at his ohagi. She gets up and tells him that if he doesn't like ohagi, that he doesn't need to eat it. He laughs and says that he's just acting stupid. He takes a bite out of his ohagi to reassure Mion. Mion lets it go, and returns to her seat.

_A needle? In his ohagi? Why would Mion and Rena do something like that? Even if it was meant to be a prank. That's just…no. You don't do that." Mions smart enough to know that that's too much._

Rika looks un-phased. She isn't surprised at all like I am. _She definitely knows something._ I don't have any time to confront her about it, since we have begun to move to the shine.

We resume our work. As I am dusting of the pieces of furniture, I can hear Rena behind me, gawking over every single piece of furniture that crosses her path. It's funny to hear her go crazy of over things that are so simple. I wonder how her mind works sometimes. I'll probably never know.

Taking notice of her passion for the furniture, Shion asks if she is planning on moving out on her own. Rena begins to explain about how her father just started working again, and how she thought that it would be nice to remodel a bit, to celebrate.

Everyone freezes. I'm the first to speak up.

"What do you mean? Your father hasn't been working this whole time?"

She explains that when they lived in Ibaraki, he stopped working, from the shock of the divorce he had. She goes on to say that he never really started back up again, even after they moved back to Hinamizawa. He just bums around all day.

It seems that Rena and her father have been living on the consolation money they got from the divorce. Not only that though. Rena also tells us that he has been wasting a lot of his money on a new woman recently. Rena says that she was shocked to find out about it and because of that, she started to have a strange dream.

The moment she said "dream," Rika became very serious. She asks her what kind of dream it was. Rena begins to explain about a dream where she kills the woman.

Shion is surprised by what Rena has told us. She makes a comment on how she also has been having a strange dream. Keiichi asks her what she means, but she says its nothing. She adds that it was quite the disturbing dream, though. I am surprised that Rika didn't push her like she is doing for Rena.

Keiichi tries to comfort them by saying that it was all just a dream, but Rena doesn't feel like that's true. She tells us that her dream felt so real to her. She begins to explain how she started becoming confused over the matter. She was lost, and didn't know what to do. She felt that if she let the situation be, that her dream would end up becoming true. It seems that she turned to Mion at that point. They had met up together and Rena had told Mion of her situation. Mion was able to comfort her and give her some advice. Because Mion had advised her to talk to her father, she was able to encourage him to get his life on track again.

"That's great, Rena!" I tell her.

"Yeah, I'm glad that I did. He was about to buy her a big apartment." She replies. "I'm glad I talked to Mii-chan about it. I think that it's really important to go to friends for things like this."

We all agree with her. After our discussion, we continue working until we have all the furniture cleaned up. As we are leaving, Rika asks Shion about her dream. Shion says that it's nothing, but Rika asks her not to hide it from her.

"I'm not hiding anything…" Shion says.

Mion fills in for her. She explains that in Shion's dream, she kills Satoko and Mion. Rika then clarifies if she told Mion about her dream. Shion is still unable to answer so Mion steps in again.

"She had this strangely serious face on, so I said to her: Shion, did you kill someone?"

Satoko also spouts out, "Shion-san would never do such a thing!"

Thankful for her encouragement, Shion runs over and hugs Satoko.

I am still thinking about what I have heard. I remember Rena talking about how she killed the woman her father was messing around with, and how Shion had killed Mion and Satoko. Suddenly, images flash across my mind. They are familiar. I had completely forgotten about them, but they are as clear as day to me now. "I think I have seen your dreams."

Everyone turns to me. I continue.

"That night I had a nightmare; I think it was about your dreams."

Everyone is stunned. They have just now remembered about my dream as well. I still have more to say so I continue again.

"I remember seeing Rena. She was cornered like she was before she talked to Mion. She didn't know what to do so she did the only thing she could do. She killed that woman, but she didn't just outright murder her. The woman also tried to murder Rena. I also remember Shion. She was in pain because of her loss of Satoshi. She blamed her family and Satoko for his disappearance so she killed them both."

My mind is conflicting with itself. I feel like there's more to it. Rena and Shion wouldn't kill for those reasons alone.

"Something…was…controlling them…" I try to explain. "I-I don't know. I can't figure it out. They wouldn't do something like that normally. Something…something was wro…something was wrong with them!"

My mind is spinning, trying to wrap itself around what was causing them to act that way. Everyone is becoming worried.

"Mike, calm down. It's ok." Mion comes to me and tries to help me.

My brain hurts. I know that there's something there, but I can't find it. There is some missing piece in my head, but I can't piece it together. I feel like I'm going crazy, or will be soon if I don't figure it out.

My friends have swarmed around me, trying to get me to calm down. They are able to get me back to normal in a minute.

"I feel like I just had an anxiety attack." I explain.

"You're okay now." Mion comforts me.

"You don't need to figure it out Mike-kun." Shion adds.

"Yeah, you might have hurt yourself if we had let you keep going any longer."

"Thanks guys." I reply.

I am thankful for their support. I don't know what go into me. My body is shaking. My head is sore. On top of all that, my back is hurting again. It's not nearly as bad as it usually is, but it still hurts significantly. I feel like something is, slowly, trying to push its way out of my back. I don't tell my friends though. They are already worried about my "breakdown". I don't want to add my back to the problem.

When everything has settled down, and everyone is assured that I'm okay, we begin to head back home. Before we part ways, I look back at Rika. I had been feeling her gaze the entire time we were walking. When I look, I see that her gaze is half worry, and half confusion. I need to ask her about this. I tell Mion to go on ahead. She is curious why, so I just tell her the truth.

"I need to talk with Rika about something. I'll catch up as soon as I can."

She lets it go, and heads off. When I reach Rika, I ask Satoko if she can make it home on her own. She glares at me.

"I'm not a kid, you know." She complains.

"Yes you are." I reply.

She sticks her tongue out at me. She understands that I want to talk with Rika though, and heads off. When she is out of earshot, I turn to the remaining two.

"Rika, Hanyuu. What the heck is going on?!?"

Neither of them answer. They are both staring at the ground.

"Come on you guys! You know something!" They remain still. "Rika, you were all over Keiichi and Rena when they were talking about their dreams. Why? What is so important about that?" Rika says nothing.

I sigh. "Rika, please. I really want to know what's going on. I know that you know something. Please tell me. You trust me don't you?"

She replies, almost too softly for me to hear. "Yes."

I wait for her to explain what's going on. After a few false starts, I help her out by asking yes or no questions.

"Did Keiichi, Rena, and Shion's dreams really happen?"

She hesitates a little before answering. "Yes."

"Auu." Hanyuu says. She is obviously as uncomfortable as Rika is.

I continue my questioning. "Are you being murdered, repeatedly?"

"Yes." She answers.

"Do you know who your murderer is?"

"No."

"Do you know why they want to murder you?"

"No."

As I look at her, I see that she is starting to break down. I walk over and kneel down. I hug her and ask her a question. "Are you scared?" She begins to weep.

"Yes!"

She cries on my shoulder. She has wrapped her arms around my neck. She is clinging to me like she would die if she let go. I comfort her in any way I can.

"It's okay Rika. I won't let them kill you."

Though she is still crying, she objects to my statement.

"You can't stop them. It is fate. I am destined to die, over and over again."

"Don't say that Rika!!! We can fight this. We can be stronger than this "fate" you speak of. Remember what Keiichi taught you the other day at the tournament?"

She gives a small, "yes".

"I promise you that I will do everything in my power, to make sure that you live." I tell her to give her some hope. I want to be prepared so I am eager to gather information on our situation. I wait until Rika has calmed down a bit.

"Can you tell me how I die, so I can be prepared for it?" I ask.

She stares at me for a second before answering. "Mike, this is the first time you have ever come to Hinamizawa."

I am shocked. I had assumed that since everyone else seems to have been here in the past that I also had been here in the past. Hanyuu decides to add something in.

"Auu. We were hoping that you had the key to saving Rika from getting murdered. Ummm…You seem to be, umm…well…special."

"Special? How so?"

"Auu, auu." Her courage fails and she reverts back to her normal shyness again.

Rika picks it up for her. "You have been able to see parts of the other's pasts, and also my own past. You did come out of nowhere as well, so maybe you have some power or something."

Her words sting. She seems to think that there's something strange about me. "Rika. I'm not an…"

She cuts me off. "I know Mike. I'm sorry. I don't mean to call you an alien or anything. I know that you are one-hundred percent human." She smiles at me.

I smile back and the pain I felt a second ago has completely vanished. I crouch down in front of both of them. I put each of my hands on their shoulders. I am surprised when I feel resistance on Hanyuu. She is surprised as well, but I say what I want to say before she can say protest. "I think of you guys as my little sisters. Same thing with Satoko and Shion. I will do anything I can to make sure you guys are safe. Even if it costs me my life, I will do it so you can live. You can come to me anytime you want. If you're feeling scared, you can come to me and I will give you a hug. If you're sad, I will do what I can to comfort you. I believe that I came here for a reason, and that reason is to protect you guys. Not just you and Hanyuu though. It's my job to protect all the club members; maybe others, if they need it."

Rika regains her childish demeanor. She lunges at me, like Mion does occasionally.

"Mii, thank you Mikey!"

Hanyuu is too shy to move in on her own, so I pull her in for a hug as well. She gives out her usual, "Auu, auu," but relaxes after a second. Her face is as red as an apple when I let go. Both Rika and I laugh when we see her face, which only causes her to turn even redder. I am amazed that it is even possible to turn that red.

There is only one more question that I have to ask Rika. "So how do you keep coming back to life? I just might want to use your immortality secret."

She gives an awkward laugh. "It's Hanyuu's power. I don't think that you would want to use it though." She says as she looks towards the ground.

"Well, once we get the guy who's trying to kill you, maybe we will want to be able to relive our lives, and have all this fun again."

Rika smile. "That would be fun, but I just want to grow up once. Nipah!"

I chuckle. "I don't know. I think that you're cuter, younger."

She teases me. "I wonder what Mii would think if I told her you said that."

"Don't you dare! She might seriously take it the wrong way!"

Rika laughs. "Mii trusts you Mikey. Even if I said awful things about you, she would never believe me."

I smile.

_She's right._

I look off in the direction Mion went off. Thinking about her makes me wish that she was right here. Rika sees me staring after Mion. "Don't tell me you miss her already."

"I can't help it! If I think about her when she's not here, I start to miss her."

Rika sighs. "I just can't understand you older people."

"You will Rika. Soon you'll know exactly what I mean." I assure her.

We run out of things to talk about, and Rika lets me go, since it's obvious that I am eager to get back to Mion as fast as possible. Before we split ways, I remind her that I'm there for her and that she can come to me if she needs me. I then start running down the path, headed straight for my love.

* * *

I am disappointed the next morning. When I woke up, I found that my second sword has disappeared as well. I had forgotten to tie it to my katana the previous night. It has completely vanished out of nowhere.

_I don't get it. I don't think someone would have taken it, because they would have done so earlier, when it was tied to the katana._

I set the Katana down after I have examined it.

_The old man said that it will show up when you need it most, but that doesn't make sense to me. Are these swords magic, or something?_

I let out a huge sigh. _I really liked those swords. I was really looking forward to practicing with them._

I finish up my morning tasks, and head out after training. The club members are all meeting at the store, where we had the tournament. We need to gather some supplies for the festival. When I arrive, I find everyone already working.

"You're late!" Mion scolds me.

I make up an excuse that Sensei had training go on for a bit longer than usual. She doesn't buy it. Mion's scowl is pretty scary. I'm unsure what to say to her. Since I'm not saying anything, she walks around behind me, and pushes me into the store.

"Hey, hey! I can walk on my own Mion."

We begin gathering some supplies. I can hear Rena pointing out things that she wants to take. She suggests that we just take them all. I chuckle at her statement. _Just like Rena. _The owner laughs nervously, thinking we might seriously do so. He comments on how are our jokes are ruthless, and turns to the man next to him for backup.

I am unfamiliar with who the man is. He only just walked in. He has silver hair so I am guessing that he's around fifty to sixty years of age. He has a happy expression on his face. The owner had called him Ooishi-san, so I assume that's his name.

He makes a comment about how youth don't have restraints. Mion makes a comment to him about how he shouldn't be slacking off in the middle of the weekdays. She also calls him "the almighty policeman". I can tell immediately that she doesn't like this man. He replies that today's his day off.

_I wonder why Mion doesn't like this guy. He seems okay to me._

Ooishi suggest that we kill some time playing a game called "Chin Chiro Rin" with him. Shion explains that it's a gambling game using dice. Keiichi immediately takes him up on his challenge, but is dismayed to hear that Ooishi gets to choose what we have to roll. He offers to teach Mion how to roll them. He also says that if she can roll snake eyes three times in a row, that he will give us a "special treasure" that will help us out.

Mion is able to roll snake eyes twice so far. I am amazed at her ability to do so. It's not easy to roll the same combination with dice. At first, I thought that his bet was pretty unfair, but Mion seems to be proving me wrong. Ooishi recognizes her ability in the game. He tells her that if she were to debut on the game floors, that she would be pretty popular. He calls her "Mion the Fire Button". I chuckle at the title she was given. I stop after receiving an elbow to the gut, from her.

"Ah, sorry."

She rolls the dice, one more time. I am amazed when the dice all land on one. She has won his bet. We all congratulate her. Ooishi also congratulates her and announces that he has been utterly defeated. Mion is obviously embarrassed that Ooishi is being so nice to her. She is blushing as she thanks him.

A few moments later, a man walks into the store. He greets Ooishi. He returns the greeting. He calls the man Akasaka-san. I hear a small gasp behind me. Rika appears to be in shock at the arrival of this man. She walks up to him and asks if he is Akasaka-san. He replies with, "It's been a long time, Rika-chan."

It seems that they know each other. Rika asks why he has returned to Hinamizawa. Akasaka replies that he and his wife are her for vacation. She seems surprised when he said "wife".

He replies, "The one you saved."

_The one she saved?_

He explains that Rika had told him that if he didn't go back to Tokyo, that something bad was going to happen. He tells us that he became worried about his wife, so he rushed back to Tokyo. His wife was about to go out onto the balcony like she had been doing for a couple of days, but there was no need when he arrived. He goes on to say that a worker slipped and fell on the stairs, and was severely injured. It could have been Akasaka's wife if he hadn't been there. He thanks Rika for being his family's savior.

_She must have known about it from the past. From Rika's reaction, I'm guessing that Akasaka hadn't listened to her till now. Rika looks very happy that he has returned._

The remainder of the day went pretty normally. After we dropped off the supplies, we all headed back home, except for me. I had work today, so I had to finish up before I went home. When I returned home, I did my nightly tasks. I stayed a little longer with Mion than normal. After we finished talking, we just stayed with each other. I think I stayed a little too long, because I ended up falling asleep right there.

There is only one thing that comes up before the festival. Unfortunately it has turned out to be a very serious matter. Satoko has been missing from school, since the last couple of days. When we ask Rika what's going on, she doesn't reply. It's obvious to me that she's in a lot of pain. Shion begs Rika to tell her if something has happened to Satoko. Satoshi, her older brother, had asked Shion to watch over Satoko. It's natural that she is so desperate to find out what's going on. Rika is still silent. Finally after Chie-Sensei asks what's going on, Rika replies, "Shut up. I'm going home."

I recognize that way of speaking from her. She clearly doesn't feel like putting on her childish side in this situation. Chie-Sensei follows her out into the hall. We hear afterword, from sensei, that Satoko's uncle has come back into town and taken custody of Satoko. Rumors have been that he was the one who bullied Satoko and Satoshi, when they were living together.

Sensei asks us to remain calm and explains that she will go to Satoko's house right now and have a talk with her. Shion flips out.

"There's no way I can be calm!"

She begins going off about how both Satoko and Satoshi went through hell. They were put through so much and there was nothing we could do about it. Sensei assures her that everything will be okay. Before she leaves, she asks Mion to maintain a study period until she returns.

All we can do is wait until Sensei returns. We head back to class and finish our work. When Sensei returns, she explains how she was unable to talk to Satoko. Shion freaks out again.

"…and you came back just like that?!? If you didn't force your way in to verify Satoko's safety, then what was the point?!?"

"She can't do that Shion. It's not her place to force herself into anyone's home. You can't ask her to get herself in trouble like that." I explain to her.

Chie-Sensei tells us that she will report what happened to the principal. Shion is still furious. After Sensei has left the room, she begins to move towards the door herself. When Mion asks where she's going, she announces that she is going to save Satoko.

"Even if I have to kill her uncle, I'll save her."

Her words send a chill down my spine. She clearly means it.

"That's what I'll do. I'll go kill him right now! That is the most efficient solution!"

"Wait a minute Shion." I say.

"Calm down for a second." Mion adds.

"While you guys whine about how helpless you are, I will be taking care of him, myself. "

Rena steps forward. "I won't let you. Killing someone won't solve anything. It will only bring more misery to everyone."

"She's right Shion. What will Satoko think, if you were to murder her uncle?" Keiichi adds.

She doesn't listen. She starts going off about how Satoko has been through so much pain and suffering, again.

"I won't let a good girl like her suffer any more!"

She turns to leave. I thought that she would be doing so soon, so I had already positioned myself in front of the door.

"Hold up Shion."

She glares at me with fierce eyes. "Please get out of my way, Mike-kun."

"Sorry Shion, but I think I'll keep my spot."

She glares even harder.

I continue. "You'll regret it Shion. I've seen it before. If you go and kill Satoko's uncle now, you will definitely regret it!"

"I'm prepared for that. Even if I am arrested, it will be worth it if I can save Satoko." She replies.

"You're wrong. It won't be worth it."

Her eyes show surprise.

I continue. "You are just looking for the happy times to come back again. If you go and kill her uncle, those happy times will be gone, forever."

She isn't listening though.

"Out of my way!" She orders as she grabs a chair. "If you get in my way, I'll kill you first!" She lifts the chair up above her head.

"Go ahead then. If you really think that you can do it and not regret it later, then go ahead."

"You don't think I will do it Mike-kun? I'm the kind of person who can do it! If an enemy appears before me, I will kill them!" She yells.

"Go ahead! I dare you! Prove that you truly don't care! If you really are a person who can do something like that then go ahead and prove it!"

Mion starts to walk forward. "No, Mike! She'll do it! She's serious!"

I continue. "You say that you are that type of person Shion, but I know better."

Shion freezes.

I finish what I'm saying. "We all care about Satoko. We all know that she's been through a lot. All of us want for Satoko to be free of her uncle, but murdering him is not the answer. Think about it for a little bit. Don't you think that Satoko would be worse off if she knew that the girl, she trusts so much, turns out to be a murderer? Even worse, if you were to kill me, just to get to her house, to murder him. Mion would never forgive you. Just look at her now." I lift my arm in her direction.

Shion looks back to see Mion, on the verge of tears, scared for my safety. Shion returns her gaze to me.

"You don't want to go through with this. Trust me. Even I want to go to Satoko's house right now and slice that bastard to pieces, but I know better. There is another way. I know there is. We just need to fight for it."

Shion slowly lowers the chair, and looks straight down.

"Are you willing to fight with me Shion?" I ask her as I place my hand on her shoulder.

She looks up into my eyes. Her eyes are full of tears, but she says, "Yes". I hug her, and she begins crying. The others gather around and wrap their arms around us. The only one who isn't is Rika. I can see her, standing alone, staring at the floor.

_She doesn't believe we can do it._

Just as we all release Shion, the principal and Sensei enter the room. The principal explains that he will contact child welfare. Shion still appears doubtful as she replies, "It will be pointless in the end." The principal tells her that the moment you says "pointless", you've already lost.

I can see Hanyuu talking to Rika. I can't tell what they are saying, but Rika seems like she has no hope for Satoko. She looks like she's given up. It makes me really sad to see her like that, but there isn't really anything I can do, unless she comes to me.

With nothing else to do, we all head home. Mion gets a call from the principal. She calls Rena and Keiichi to tell them to meet us at a certain location so we can talk. We head out to meet them, and when they arrive, Mion explains what the principal told her. It seems that a social worker went to Satoko's house, after they received a call from the principal, but she told the worker that there was nothing wrong, and she didn't need help.

Keiichi asks why she didn't ask for help. Mion explains that Shion had said that Satoko believes that Satoshi's leaving is her fault. She didn't have the strength to endure the abuse she was receiving and had to rely on Satoshi. That is what made Satoshi feel cornered.

"That's bullcrap! She can't possibly believe that his leaving is her fault. The fact that they were being abused in the first place is totally wrong. She shouldn't have to endure it, since it shouldn't have been happening in the first place." I complain.

Everyone is in agreement, but it doesn't change the present situation.

"She believes that enduring this without help will let her atone for her sins against Satoshi, doesn't she?" Rena asks.

_Probably._

Rena makes the comment that she thought that me or Keiichi would say the same things that Shion was saying earlier. Keiichi explains that he was able to keep his cool since Shion made a scene first. I agree with Keiichi. He also explains that he felt like he actually did kill her uncle once. He tells us that I turned for the worst at the end.

"I also remember something like that in the nightmare I had. I was thinking about it when I was facing off with Shion." I tell them.

Keiichi says something else. "We can't let this be. As long as Satoko isn't fighting for herself, we have to fight for her!"

"That's right. As long as we work together, we will come up with a solution that will work." Rena adds.

We all agree with her. We then head back home, since we have run out of things to talk about. While in bed, I try to think of some way to help Satoko. Mion and I were unable to come up with anything when we were talking, but I am continuing to think about it. I end up falling asleep without coming up with any ideas.

The next day, Keiichi tells us his idea.

"So we're going to go appeal to child welfare ourselves?" Mion asks.

Keiichi explains that they probably haven't assessed the situation well enough, and we need to go down to explain it to them properly.

Everyone agrees to the plan. Rika seems to still be depressed though. When Keiichi asks her if she will come with us, she asks us if we really think that we can free Satoko from her fate. Keiichi reminds her about what he taught her about fate. "You can change fate with your own hands." She gives in and decides to go with us. She still doesn't look to happy though.

When we arrive at the welfare office, the case worker tells us that they already are working on Satoko's case. She tries to assure us that they aren't ignoring or neglecting her. Keiichi challenges her by asking about why they left yesterday without doing anything. She explains that she can't tell us the details, but they did go to investigate the situation. She goes on to say that they will continue to help the Houjou family live a sound life as father and daughter. Shion becomes angry and corrects her.

"They aren't father and daughter! They're uncle and niece! "

Shion also questions whether or not they truly understand the situation. The worker apologizes for the error, but assures us that they will continue to make sure that the relationship between Satoko and her uncle remains healthy. Rena brings up the point that her uncle has neglected her for over a year. She questions if he can still be considered his guardian after that. Mion asks if there are regulations concerning abandonment of guardianship, in civil law. She also questions if Satoko's uncle should fit into that category. Keiichi adds the fact that Satoko hasn't shown up for school since her uncle's arrival and that they shouldn't just believe what she says.

The worker says that she will notify the one who is working Satoko's case, about our appeal. She thanks us for the information we have given her. With nothing else we can do, we are forced to leave. We decide to sit down outside the building, in a small park. Shion complains about how our talk with the worker was no different from talking to a wall. Rena comments on how our method of going about this way is correct, but she doubts that our sense of urgency will be made clear to the worker. Mion suggests that we could change their attitude about the case, if they were to use her family name, but it probably wouldn't go well since the Houjou's and the Sonozaki's are currently at odds. Shion complains about how this is Sensei's fault.

Keiichi apologizes to Rika. "Despite my big mouth, we were unable to do anything."

"I don't believe it." Rika replies. "You and Mike taught me that fate could be broken. That's why if you say something like that… I don't believe it."

Tears have begun falling from her face. She continues what she's saying.

"I don't want to give up after all. I want to save Satoko." She turns to me. "Mike, Keiichi! Please save her! Save her from this fate! I beg you!"

"Rika…" is all I can say.

"You're right." Keiichi says. "This is where we have to stand firm."

I am able to regain my courage at Keiichi's words.

"Yes, we have to fight. No matter what happens, we have to fight for Satoko. There will be no giving up, because we are fighting for one that we love."

Keiichi stands up and announces, "Now's not the time to get dejected. Mike's right. We have to fight with all we have to save Satoko. We can't give up, no matter what."

Rena asks what we can do. Keiichi reassures her that he has come up with the perfect plan.

_Guess I can count on Keiichi when it comes to making plans._

The next day, when the entire class has gathered, we stand in front of them to make our speech. Keiichi begins by explaining that we are going to be discussing Satoko's situation. He points out that Satoko has been absent for the past three days; calling in sick. She hasn't been to the clinic during that time either. He asks the student if that isn't strange. They begin murmuring amongst themselves about how strange it is. Keiichi explains that it's not because she is sick, but because her uncle has locked her inside the house, and won't let her come to school.

Rena then clarifies that no one knows more about Satoko's abuse at the hands of her uncle and aunt then all of us. Shion adds in that Satoko had been living happily with Rika before he came. It's Mion's turn to add something. She tells about how it wrong to forcibly remove her and not allow anyone to see her. I feel that I need to add something to keep the momentum going.

"Satoko isn't a slave! He can't just order around and not give her some sort of compensation in return. She is human just like any of us!"

Keiichi announces that Satoko is our friend and we all need to go and save her. One of the students asks how we are going to do that. Keiichi explains that our group had gone to the welfare office, yesterday, to appeal for Satoko, but they didn't understand the urgency of our crisis. "They are dilly-dallying, say that they are still investigating the situation!" He goes on to say that they were looking down on us because only six of her friends came to help her. We need more, so that they will understand the true urgency of this situation. He asks them all to lend us their strength. "Show them the spirit that has been passed down through Hinamizawa!"

I am impressed at how good of a public speaker Keiichi is.

_He could probably rally an entire army, in minutes._

Chie-Sensei walks in at that moment, asking what all the commotion is about. Keiichi continues by saying that will go rescue Satoko. The entire class is pumped. Sensei is about to stop him, but Rika blocks her way.

"Everyone is trying their best to save Satoko. I am powerless, so I cannot do anything without the help of others, but I can stop you from interfering, Chie."

Just as she finishes, the principal walks up behind Chie-Sensei. He places a hand on her shoulder, to let her know that he will handle this. He announces that we can all go do what we must. He will take on all of the responsibility for this matter. Sensei gives us her acceptance, but she won't let us go unless she is allowed to come with us. We welcome her, of course.

At the Welfare office, they are surprised to see that so many have gathered today. When asked how many of us there are, I say that all of Satoko's classmates and her teachers are here. The total is seventeen people. The lady at the counter tells us that the consultation room isn't large enough to fit all of us and asks us to send in some representatives instead. Rena speaks up. "Please arrange a bigger room for us then. I believe that we shouldn't adjust to the room, but that the room should adjust for us."

The woman leaves to arrange a room for us. We are then escorted to a large conference room. The man we are talking to explains that they are proceeding cautiously on Satoko's case. Keiichi replies that there's no time for that. The man goes on to explain that when the case worker talked with Satoko, directly, she told him that there was no abuse. Mion questions them. "…and you accepted it, just like that?"

Shion is unable to keep her cool. "If Satoko get even a single bruise on her, I'll make you pay for this!"

I try to calm her down. "Shion, calm down. We've got this." She sits back down.

Mion makes a statement about Satoko's situation. "Satoko is clearly being abused. Why can't you understand this?"

The man explains that, that is the difficult part of the case. They have to carefully determine whether or not this is truly an abuse case or not. He tells us that it is extremely important for the individual to acknowledge the abuse. I am unable to keep my cool at his words.

"She can't acknowledge the abuse! Not with her uncle staring over her shoulder! Not only that; she thinks that she has to endure this abuse to become stronger!"

He ignores my rant and replies. "After an objective observation, if we deem it necessary, we will take custody over her. However, at this time, it is difficult to perceive if Satoko-san is in urgent danger."

Both Keiichi and I are about to explode.

"Not in urgent danger, you say?" Keiichi says.

He is about to say more, but Rena places a hand on his shoulder. It has become completely clear that they aren't going to listen to us. We end up leaving, without making any progress. As we walk back I complain about our wasting our time. Mion points out that I'm wrong. We all look back to see the other students, still riled up about wanting to save Satoko. Rena explains that it's a first time for them; banding together to fight for a classmate. Mion points out that it's kind of like the Dam War.

"If one opposes you, two will throw rocks at that person. If there are two, four will throw rocks. If there are four, then eight will. If there are a thousand, then the entire village will fight back."

Sensei explains that it was the slogan used during the Dam War. She also says that it means that the entire village will band together and fight.

"That's not all though." She continues. "It also means that one person's pain is shared with everyone in the village, and that you fight back as if the pain was your own."

Rena points out that those words fit our situation well. Keiichi adds, "So that's what you call the spirit of Hinamizawa. We can't give up then."

Mion points out that if we just go back with this many people again, that we will be turned down.

"Perhaps we just need to find more people to fight with us then." I suggest.

Keiichi turns to Mion. "Is it possible to find more supporters, other than children, Mion?"

She thinks for a second then replies, "Many of the counsel elders don't want anything to do with the Houjou's. Even now, everyone thinks that they are cursed."

"Shackled by the Dam War I suppose…" He replies. "Guess there's no other choice. I'll just have to gather them myself!"

We find ourselves at the "Angle Mort". It's a dessert restaurant, which seems to be popular with many guys. I can tell why, since the waitresses dress up in pretty revealing costumes. Keiichi is talking with to a guy that I recognize from somewhere. After a moment of thinking, I remember that he's the pitcher from the ball game we had, not too long ago. Somehow, Keiichi is able to rally the entire restaurant-full of guys to our cause. Shion is also able to get the waitresses to come help out as well.

_HAHAHA! They're going to have a field day with this tomorrow at the welfare office!_

We all head home after rallying the "Angle Mort" group. We all need to get some rest before tomorrow.

The next day, as we are planning how we are going to organize our "raid" on the welfare office, Satoko walks in. We are all shocked and immediately walk over to her. Sensei explains that the welfare office investigated her absence for the past three days, and Satoko is here today, because of that.

Satoko only says, "My fever wouldn't go down for past three days. Pardon me for making you worry."

She repeats the same exact thing a second time, when I show worry toward her. As she walks to her seat, Mion points out that no one even asked her about her fever. A great pain and anger enter my heart.

_That bastard made her say that!_

Rena says what I am thinking.

Mion says that her uncle probably let her out because he is convinced that it won't come back to hurt him.

Keiichi walks over to her. "Satoko, are you in pain?"

She replies, "I'm fine. Even without Nii-Nii here, I can go on by myself."

_She must be referring to Satoshi._

Keiichi announces that he is going to pat her on the head, as a reward for enduring all this time. As he does, tears begin to fall down her face. Rena goes up to her and tells her that no one will tell if she cries here.

"We're all here for you Satoko. You don't need to worry." I try to comfort her.

"Everyone will certainly come to your rescue, Satoko." Rika adds.

Mion explains that we all have been appealing to the welfare office.

Keiichi tells her that it's not just the club members, and that the whole class is fighting for her.

"So that's why the social worker came." She replies.

Concerned, Shion asks, "Did he do something to you because the social worker came?"

Satoko turns her head and replies, "Really, I'm fine."

"That's a lie." Rena says. "You aren't fine, Satoko-chan; everyone knows that. Everyone is reaching out to help you. It was the same before, so I know."

Rena begins explaining about her past situation. She tells Satoko that to reach the world we really want to go to, we all have to reach out for help.

"Someone taught me that. That's why…you see? Lend me your hand." She says as she holds her hand out towards Satoko.

"We all want to save you, but we can't stretch over this last, tiny distance. That's why you need to grab our hands." Keiichi says, as he holds his hand out towards her as well. "You have to grab our hands. We'll pull you up!"

"Thank you. Thank you very much." She is obviously very conflicted and scared. "…But…"

Before she can finish what she's saying, she hears the sound of footsteps out in the hall. She immediately freaks out. She gets up and runs for a corner.

"Satoko, what's wrong?!?" I call out to her.

As she is backing into a corner she cries out, "M-my uncle…It's my uncle!!!"

She cowers in terror. The man that has entered to room isn't her uncle, but she doesn't seem to see that.

"What's wrong? It's just the principal." Keiichi explains.

Satoko keeps repeating, "My uncle…It's my uncle…"

Rika runs up to her and hugs her. "It's okay Satoko, your uncle isn't here."

"But he was…He came to take me back!" She cries.

"Calm down, Satoko." Rika tells her. "Did you take your shots today?"

She isn't able to answer. She is only able to cry.

There isn't anything we can do for her right now. I tell Chie-Sensei that we need to call Irie. She goes out immediately to do so. Rika holds on to her till he arrives. When Rika comes out of the nurse's office, she explains that Satoko has calmed down, since taking her shots. We ask her what shots, and she explains it to us.

"Satoko is sick."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Rika explains by pointing out a blot on the wall.

"Do you see the stain on the wall?"

We nod.

"What do you see it as?" She asks.

With us unable to answer, she continues.

"If you fear flies, it will appear as flies to you. If you fear cockroaches, it would appears as that to you. That is Satoko's sickness."

Just as she finishes explaining, we hear a crash from inside the room. Rika quickly opens the door and runs in. We see that Satoko has awakened and is thrashing about. She is crying about her "Nii-Nii."

After Satoko has been taken to the clinic, Rika explains to Keiichi and me that even when there is nothing to fear, Satoko believes that there is something that will come and get her. Even if you tell her there isn't, the panicked Satoko can't tell the difference.

Keiichi sums it up. "It's a disease where, if you start believing in your doubts, you cannot break away from that misunderstanding."

"That's why she has to take her shots every day." Rika explains.

Keiichi asks her if it would be possible to admit her into a hospital, but she tells us that Satoko won't go along with it. She explains that Satoko believes that if she doesn't go home, then her uncle will destroy Satoshi's room. Apparently she had murmured that in her delirious state.

"To Satoko, the Houjou house is a home she needs to defend until Satoshi's return."

"That bastard! I really want to kill him now!" Keiichi says.

I feel the same way as Keiichi.

Rika asks us not to lose our tempers. If Shion and the others found out we'd have trouble. Rika tells us that she only told Keiichi and me because she thought that we'd understand. Our tempers drop at her request, but the thoughts still linger. "I understand." We each say.

"It's not simple to save Satoko. I've tried so many times, but this time is different! Keiichi-kun, Mike-kun, I believe that you can change this fate!"

"Yeah. You're right, Rika." I say.

Keiichi adds, "We'll tear right through that fate!!!"

We head back to the school and prepare our "army" for the march on the welfare office.

When we arrive, we find that Irie, Takano, and Tomitake have come to help us out. I am surprised to see that Takano came to help.

_Maybe I am wrong about her._

We are asked to send in some representatives. We agree upon Irie, Keiichi, and Rika. Irie, because he is her physician; Keiichi, because he is the best talker, among us, and Rika, because she is Satoko's best friend.

From behind the counter, I cannot hear what is being discussed. What I can tell is that we don't seem to be gaining any ground. I can hear Keiichi and Irie arguing with the man, but it doesn't seem to be doing any good. It doesn't seem that Rika is saying anything as well. To me, it seems that she is only talking with Hanyuu. All I can do is stand by Mion and hold her hand. We watch without saying anything. After about half an hour of arguing, Rika stands. She says something and they three of them return to the group.

"So? What happened?" I ask.

"All we need to do is get Satoko to admit the abuse." Rika replies.

"That seems pretty tough. Can we do it?" I ask.

"I can do it." Rika claims with confidence.

This Rika is a different one from the one I've been seeing for the past couple of days. She looks like she is fighting again. She truly wants to save Satoko. I am glad for her.

After the welfare office we head to the council meeting. Keiichi plans to get the entire village behind us in our fight. If Satoko knows that every villager is fighting for her, and has forgiven her, she will surely fight back as well. Keiichi is waiting for the right time to ask for the elder's help. As we are sitting in the room, listening to the talk, Mion comes and taps Keiichi on the shoulder. "Kei-chan, come with me for a second." He gets up and follows her.

I decide to come along as well. She didn't sound like she was in a good mood. The other club members follow me out, as they are curious as well. When we come out, we find Keiichi talking with Chie-Sensei and the principal. It seems that they have asked Keiichi to keep tomorrow the last day, we go to the welfare office.

Apparently the school is under pressure and could close if Keiichi keeps this up for much longer. Keiichi explains that Ooishi told him that he would be turning those who dislike the Houjous against him. He asks who in the council still hates the Houjou family. The Dam War is over and Satoko has done no wrong. Mion explains to him that it's likely that no one still hates Satoko's family. Shion decides to add in, "I believe so too."

Keiichi and Mion look back, in surprise to see us.

Shion continues, "…but this village is still afraid of the Houjou family. They're afraid that if they are seen having ties with them, that they will become scapegoats as well. Everyone believes that with her parent's deaths, she has reprised herself. That's why Onibaba ordered everyone to not have any involvement with the Houjou family after that. But she didn't order them to forgive the Houjous."

_Why would Sensei do that?_

Mion adds in, "Baa-chan is the same as ever. She may have already forgiven them, but if there is a villager that has not quelled his anger, she's afraid that she may lose her authority over this."

Rena explains, "No one holds a grudge against the Houjou family, but they all think that someone does."

Shion also explains, "Nowadays everyone calls this Oyashiro-sama's curse because of the fear of this "someone" who doesn't exist."

Rika objects to her statement. "Oyashiro-sama would never curse Satoko. In fact, she thinks of her as being cute. Please don't use Oyashiro-sama's name for such things."

The way she phrased it, I assume she's referring to Hanyuu. I'm probably right about that.

"I'm new here so I wasn't involved in the Dam War. Even if I was, I don't think that I would have a grudge against Satoko or Satoshi. I'm not so blind as to think that those two are evil just because their parents did something that the villagers didn't agree with. That's just insanity. We need to others to see that."

Keiichi concludes that we just need to weed out those who are against the Houjou in the counsel room. Keiichi bursts into the room and walks to the head of the table. When he has taken his position, he asks if he can say something.

_Here we go._

He begins, "Everyone here knows that Houjou Satoko is currently suffering terrible abuse at the hands of her uncle, correct? However, no one here is willing to save her. What's more, you even try to get in our way."

The head of the counsel asks him, "What we are saying is, haven't you done enough?"

"What the hell do you mean, "enough"?!?"

"Those Dam War shenanigans are a thing of the past. Banding together and forcing yourself against the officials is no longer with the times." The elder explains to him.

Keiichi slams him foot on the table. The girls next to me gasp a little in shock. I am grinning wide.

"This is getting interesting." I say to myself.

"The Dam War has nothing to do with this! This is MY WAR! Are you going to join me on this? Make yourself clear now, if you are my friend or a foe. Which is it? Are you friend or foe?!?"

Naturally the council members begin to get into an uproar. The begin murmuring amongst themselves; saying things like "What's with his attitude?" and "Youngsters these days."

The head tells Keiichi, "Since the Dam War is over, there's no reason for the village to stand against the government."

Shion begins musing about something. "I know. Because the government is pretty close with the village. There's the annual Hot Spring trip, and the Year's End party. And then there's the New Year's presents. Even the festival itself…receive several million yen in tribute from the government. In return, the village wags its tail for the government. Isn't that right? Oji-chan?"

He is obviously shocked. "Sh-Shion-chan, how do you know that?"

Shion explains that sometimes, she might actually be her sister.

I chuckle to myself.

Rena sums everything up for clarification. "Meaning, the entire village is tightly knit with the government people, so you can't upset them, right?"

"And I thought Hinamizawa was such a powerful village; able to fight for itself in any situation. Who would have thought that we would be taking bribes from the government all this time?" I reply.

Rika adds in, "So strange, so strange."

"What's this? What's this? Isn't it a bit strange that you are just sitting here listening to all these accusations?" Keiichi asks the head.

All the council members have once again start talking amongst themselves. They aren't talking about Keiichi this time, but about the relation between the village and the government.

The head calls for silence. He then addresses Keiichi. "The Council's relationship with the government is a separate issue. Don't confuse the situation by bringing that up."

Keiichi's reply is as follows: "In this village, there is a code to band together for one person, isn't there? The Last Stand Alliance. It hasn't been long since I moved here, but I believe that it is an honor to live in this here. Houjou Satoko is a member of this village! She is our friend! I want to save her from her terrible uncle! For that purpose, I ask you to lend me the strength of the Last Stand Alliance once again! If one throws a rock at you, two should throw rocks back at them! If two throw at you, attack them with four! If eight come at you, come back with sixteen! If there are a thousand enemies, then stand together with the entire village! Think of the shame brought onto one as the shame brought onto all! For the sake of one villager, gather as one! That's how the impenetrable alliance is formed!"

One by one, the elders begin standing and showing their support for Keiichi.

The head still doesn't seem convinced.

Rika address him. "Could it be that you want the approval of a certain someone?"

He replies to her, "Rika-chama, you sure hit where it hurts. As far as the Kimiyoshi family is concerned, we see the Houjou incident as water under the bridge, but…"

Rika says, "The Furude family has been friends with them since the start."

Keiichi summarizes, "That means all that's left it the most influential great house, the Sonozaki family, who has the true control over the village."

The head asks Mion her position.

"If you're saying Baa-chan is the only problem, I will fight." She replies.

I nod my head. I am also prepared to fight Sensei in this matter.

Keiichi asks the head if he will promise to lend his strength if we can convince Oryou-sensei.

He agrees.

With that, we all head back home. We will confront Oryou-sensei tomorrow. I get some rest to prepare for the day to come.

_We will save Satoko for sure!_

We don't have training today, since we have arranged a meeting with Sensei. We are all standing in front of the Mansion, getting ready to go in. The ones who are going in are the club members, minus Satoko, Irie-sense, and the head of council, Kimiyoshi. We are ushered in and we take our place in front of Sensei.

Kimiyoshi explains our situation to Sensei. She replies, "It's not like she's going to die in a few months."

She begins complaining about us wasting her time. I've been told that she is a scary person, but I haven't really seen it till now. She truly does whatever she wants and won't have it any other way.

Rika explains to her that Satoko is her friend and that she wants her to save her. Even to Rika, she is cold.

"Rika-chama, I've told you many times. You have to choose your friends."

I can hardly believe it. This is not the Oryou I have come to know. She is a stern woman, yes, but not as cold hearted as the woman sitting in front of me.

Keiichi moves in a bit closer and introduces himself. "My name is Maebara Keiichi. I have just moved here, but I hope to be in your best regards."

"I know about you very well." She tells him.

Mion explains to him that when his family moved here, they hadn't come to introduce themselves, so they left a bad impression.

Keiichi continues what he is saying. "One of the villagers is in a dire situation. Does trying to save her trouble you?"

Akane speaks for Oryou, "The Village Council of the Hinamizawa Coalition has an agreement with the Shishibone City Administration. This cooperation is the proper posture for us to take in order to coexist with them."

"By abandoning Satoko?" Keiichi asks.

"That is not the Sonozaki Family's problem." She replies.

Shion appeals to Sensei. "If we can get your approval, the Council will give us their support."

"I beg of you. Please silently nod your head." Keiichi asks her.

"What will you do if I say no?" She replies.

"I'll crack your head open, make Mion the new Sonozaki head, and then nod hers." He responds.

I am unable to form any thoughts. The ferocity of Oryou is so intense; it wipes everything else from my mind.

"What did you say, you brat?!? Someone bring me my sword! I'll cut down this damn brat and throw him down the well!" She rants.

Everyone is silent. Only I have the courage to move forward. "I won't allow you to do that Sensei."

"Oh? You would go against your sensei for this brat?" She asks.

"Yes, I would. I will fight to protect my friends. No matter who they are, I will fight for them. Satoko is my friend, so I will fight for her as well. I beg of you Sensei. Please give us your acceptance in this matter." I reply to her as I bow.

My speech gives Keiichi the courage to continue. "If you see me as rude, I'll explain my position. To save Houjou Satoko, I ask the Sonozaki Family for their support. Houjou Satoko is a member of this village. More importantly, she is my friend. I also beg of you. Give us your support!"

Keiichi also bows as he finishes his plea.

Akane is the one who responds to us. "Your intention to fight for Satoko-chan because she is your friend is well understood."

Both Keiichi and I return to an upright position.

She continues, "This is a matter of reparation, as we too live in a world of honor."

Rena asks, "If we make this reparation, will you let your anger be water under the bridge?"

Akane responds, "Will you make Satoko-chan bow before us?"

Sensei adds in, "If you could do that, I may think about it."

Rena then says, "So if Satoko makes this reparation, you will make your reparation for the ostracizing that she endured?"

"What?" is the only thing Sensei can say.

Mion and Shion's father then moves forward. He explains that the Sonozaki's bear some responsibility for the misfortune brought upon Satoko. "Despite the parent's actions, their daughter has no sin. Isn't that so Kaa-san?"

Everyone then bows to Oryou, one more time.

She begins throwing a tantrum. "You people make me sick! Bring me my meds!"

As Akane prepares her medication, she tells us that we will have to leave for today.

Keiichi complains that we haven't received our answer yet, but Akane gives him a strict look and says, "You need to learn that, in the adult world, it is sometimes necessary to schedule a return visit!"

We are immediately ushered out.

We wait outside the mansion for Mion and Shion to return. As they approach, Keiichi asks how they think it went. Mion tells him that she doesn't know. She also thinks the Sensei's impression of Keiichi couldn't be any worse.

Rena comforts Keiichi by telling him that Sensei wasn't mad at all.

"How so? She seemed pretty angry to me. Honestly, I've never seen her like that before." I say.

"I just know. She wasn't mad at all." She tells me.

"If you say so."

I'm still skeptical. A bit later, Kimiyoshi and Akane, walk out. We ask him what she said. He laughs and tells us that she said, "OK". "Oryou-san gave us the OK. She even said, Keiichi-kun, to do what you like."

"Is that really true?" Keiichi shouts, excited.

"Onibaba-sama says she likes how you stood up to her with your beliefs, and has forgiven you for your boldness, this time. There needs to be that much of a story to be told."

"All right!" Keiichi shouts. "I am very grateful. I'll come again to properly thank you."

Akane begins laughing. "You'd better not. Next time she may really run you through with her sword. I pity Mike-kun as well, as he will probably pay for it during his training."

"Ah, great." I reply sarcastically.

Everyone begins laughing, except for Keiichi and me.

We all head back, except for Mion and I, who are technically already home.

_One more day, Satoko. Wait for us, just one more day._

When Kimiyoshi arrives at the schoolhouse in the morning, he tells us some bad news.

"They refused to see us?!?" I almost yell.

I told them that we'd take on the whole country if it came to that, or course" He explains.

"What fools." Shion states. "If it was any other village council, then who knows, but does he really want to turn Hinamizawa against him?"

"What should we do?" Mion asks.

"We can't back down now that we have stuck our necks out." Kimiyoshi says.

Keiichi thanks him. "I don't know how many people will come, but now that we have come this far, it's all out war!"

We gather in front of the welfare office. We are amazed to see how many people have come. Not just people of Hinamizawa, but also people of Okinomiya as well. We are excited to see so many people, and begin to join in on their pleas to save Satoko. Kimiyoshi makes a speech over some speakers. As we are chanting for Satoko's freedom, Ooishi comes up and greets us. He tells us that he has an urgent message for us.

"Disband? Why?" Keiichi asks after hearing what Ooishi has to say. Ooishi explains that it is prohibited to protest on any government property. If the facility manager decides that our protesting will disrupt their work, they can order us to leave.

Keiichi asks who the facility manager is and Ooishi tells him that it's probably the chairman. As we turn back to the building, we see the curtain close, quickly.

"So he won't even listen to us?" Keiichi says.

"Looks like he just doesn't like you Maebara-san." Ooishi tells him.

"Just when we gathered this many people for Satoko." Keiichi continues.

"From here on, it'll be a war of attrition." Mion explains. "If we can't be on-site with our original number of people, we'll have to set up a smaller crowd of people and shout or demand. We'll just have to keep this up for many days until they feel the pressure."

"So it'll be a long term fight?" Keiichi responds.

I am angered at this turn of events. We can't wait any longer for them. Satoko suffers daily at the hands of her uncle. We have to save her as soon as we can. Just as I about to make this point, Rena beats me to it.

"We can't, Keiichi-kun! We have no time to waste on saving Satoko-chan! I don't really know why, but I just know!"

"I agree with Rena. It's bad enough that Satoko has had to endure her abuse for even a day. We can't waste time." I say.

Rika adds in, "Mikey and Rena are right."

Mion says, "We have no choice, but to wait though. We just have to wait until the situation becomes favorable to us, but that time will come!"

We can't do anything at the moment. We are forced to wait. We continue calling out for the chairman to hear us out. After a while, a limo pulls up, and a man steps out.

"Oji, what are you doing here?" Mion asks in surprise.

He ignores us, and we wait some more. In a minute or two, a man steps out from the Welfare office.

We rush up to him. Keiichi asks is he is a social worker at the office.

The man humbly introduces himself as the chairman.

"Chairman, please hear us out." Keiichi asks him.

"I know." He says as he bows to us. He also apologizes to us.

A worker calls up Satoko's house. When her uncle picks up, the worker tells him that there is something important that he needs to confirm with Satoko. After a moment of waiting, the worker asks the person on the phone if it is Satoko. After confirming that it is, he continues by asking her how she's been since their last inquiry. Keiichi then asks to be put on the phone. Keiichi explains to her that as soon as she says "yes," that they will take custody of her. He also explains that the Sonozaki family organized this all. He tells her about all the people, outside the building that are cheering for her. He then tells her that we were able to crush the coldness that people had been showing her, since the Dam War.

Next, Rika is the one to be put on the phone. She confirms what Keiichi said about everyone treating her badly. She will no longer be bullied by anyone in Hinamizawa. I'm guessing that Satoko told her that she couldn't believe that, because Rika has begun to tell her about how she couldn't believe it herself. She tells her about how she was discouraged when Satoko was taken away by her uncle and that she had given up because she thought that it was a dead-end, but with Keiichi and my help, she learned that fate can be contested.

"You seem to believe that to endure this shows strength, but that isn't true." She tells her.

She then asks her to think back to Satoshi. She asks her to back at the man behind her and realize the courage Satoshi had when he stood up against him.

"If you have any intention to atone for your sin towards Satoshi, you won't achieve that by denying help. You need to take up Satoshi's courage and strength! Realize that!"

She then tells Satoko that she is giving the receiver to the worker.

"Tell him in your own words. I'll be watching for your courage."

Rika then hands the receiver to the social worker. He asks Satoko once again if there is any problem with her life with her uncle.

After a moment, the worker seems to hear something.

"Yes? Could you repeat that?"

I can hear over the receiver her reply.

"Please help me!"

The line is a little noisy for a few moments. Keiichi takes the receiver and ask Satoko if she's alright. Ooishi is stand next to us, holding a radio. "It's alright, Maebara-san." He explains that the police have taken Satoko's uncle into custody. I am overjoyed to hear the news. It seems that Satoko's uncle had already been marked by the police for another case. This was their chance to take him in. We all rush down to her house to see her. When we arrive, Rika and Satoko run to each other. Rika holds onto Satoko as she cries. We all watch as the two best friends have been reunited. Satoko comes to each one of us and thanks us for helping her.

"Come on Satoko, what did you expect? It's not like we could let our "Trap Master" go like that. Where would our club be without you?" I tell her.

She smiles at me and thanks me.

Tomorrow is the Watanagashi Festival. Without Satoko, it would have been a sad day, but now we can enjoy it to our fullest potential. Our beloved Satoko is free yet again. Fate has lost, and it will continue to lose. There is nothing that will prevent us from living a happy life. I have sworn to my friends that I will fight for them. I mean to keep that promise, till the day I die.


	12. Chapter 11: Watanagashi

Chapter 11: Festival Time

I awaken feeling extremely refreshed. I no longer have to wake up worrying about Satoko. We have finally been able to free her from her "fate". My whole body is flowing with energy. I feel like sparks with go off if I let my fingers move too close together. I can't wait to meet the day. This day will be my first Watanagashi Festival, and I expect it to be filled with fun.

Sensei takes note of my enthusiasm during training. The reason for my energy is obvious. She knows quite well that I am happy for my friend's safety. She doesn't seem too upset with what had happened earlier as well. I am glad that she hasn't decided to take it out on me.

Today is a swords day, so Shinji and I are sparring with each other for most of training. My body feels as light as a feather as I fight with him. My sword feels like a twig in my hand. I am nearly able to deliver three blows in a single second to my opponent. He has begun to take a defensive stance, but it isn't helping him. My blows are coming from all directions and from all angles. He tells me that my blows are "like a raging hurricane". There isn't going to be anything that stops me today. I'm determined to win at everything.

My goal is to make Mion be the victim of today's punishment game. I heard from her that today is a special day, so the punishment is double. Hehehe, I can't wait. I think as I wear an evil grin on my face. I saw a cute maid outfit in the clubroom the other day. I bet it would look wonderful on her. I begin imagining Mion in the outfit. A large grin crosses my face as I imagine her trying to cover herself up, and blushing wildly. If I remember right, I also saw a pair of cat ears and gloves that would go nicely with the outfit. I reform my image to add in the cat ears, tail, and gloves. I fantasize about her moment of embarrassment. Y-yes Master. As you wish Master. N-nyaa! She would have to say to me. I chuckle to myself. "Excellent."

When training has finished, I head back to the mansion for some breakfast. I find Mion cooking in the kitchen. She doesn't notice me when I come in, so I come up from behind her and give her a kiss on the cheek. She giggles and greets me. "Morning Mike. You ready for today?"

"Heck yeah I am! You ready to get your butt kicked at club activities today?" I reply enthusiastically.

"Ha, hardly! I'm going to make you eat your words. Remember, its double punishment today, so you just be ready to take your punishment."

We playfully continue our smack talk until breakfast is ready. Mion didn't prepare as much as she usually does. She explains that there will be a lot of good food at the festival, and that we need to save room for that.

Makes sense to me.

After we finish our breakfast, I grab my weapons, and we head out together. We meet up with Shion. The two sisters begin talking about random things without including me. I feel a little left out, but I think that they're doing it on purpose to get a reaction out of me. Thankfully, Rena and Keiichi show up pretty soon. A little while later, Satoko and Rika show up. Satoko has a few bandages and bruises on her, but she seems to be back to normal. Seeing her smile brings warmth to my heart. I walk over to rub her on the head, but she pushes my hand off out of embarrassment.

Rena begins going crazy over Rika, who is dressed up as a shrine miko. We are trying to get her to calm down, but we aren't really making much progress. When she gets like this, there's almost no stopping her. It's hard to keep from laughing at her antics.

When we have finally calmed her down enough, we decide to begin our club activities for the day. Mion explains that our activities will consist of speed eating food from all the stalls at the festival.

"Ha. This will be easy. Speed eating is my specialty. I already eat fast normally." I brag.

"Yeah right, Mike. I see you eat all the time. You aren't as fast as you say." Mion counters.

"That's only because I eat politely when I'm around you. Not like I want you to think that I'm a slob." I reply.

She frowns as she sees my point. "Even so, Mike. You can't count us out just yet. We haven't even started."

"Alright, let's get started then."

Everyone agrees and we head out to the nearest stand. We all grab our food from the stall and begin our competition. I notice Keiichi having a little difficulty.

_Hehe, he must have grabbed the food that's still hot. I was about to myself, but I thought better of it._

No one seemed willing to inform Keiichi of our strategy of grabbing the cold food. It's clear to them that I wasn't lying about my ability to consume food quickly. I am first to finish at every stand. At this point, it's a battle to not be in last place.

It's beginning to look like Keiichi is going to be the one who has to suffer from my punishment. I give off a small sigh. I was really looking forward to having Mion do the punishment. If not Mion, then one of the other girls would have been find too. I don't really have any desire to have Keiichi do anything. These punishment games are really meant to be done against the opposite sex.

When are games come to an end, it has been confirmed that Keiichi is to be the victim of the punishment of my choice. I am disappointed. The girls eagerly wait to hear what Keiichi's punishment will be.

"I think I'm just going to let Keiichi off the hook this time."

The girls nearly start screaming at me.

"Come on, Mike! That's not fair!" Mion complains.

"You can't just forfeit. Remember rule number one? You have to go all out!" Satoko adds in.

"Aww, I was looking forward to Keiichi-kun's punishment." Rena broods.

I sigh. "Fine. How about I give my right to choose the punishment to Mion? Would that be sufficient?"

They consider my proposition for a second.

"That would be fine," they agree.

"Ah, man." Keiichi complains. It's clear that he was hoping that he was going to be let off the hook. Looks like the girls are out for blood though, and they won't be satisfied till the punishment has been fulfilled. Mion puts on her evil grin as she thinks about Keiichi's punishment.

Before she can come up with something, Rika announces that she has to leave. "Mii, I have to go get ready for my dance tonight. I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Rika. We'll be watching you perform. We'll see you later." I see her off.

With her gone, we decide to find a place to stand, so we will be able to see her performance well. Looks like Keiichi is actually going to be let off the hook.

_Lucky him._

After we have found our spot, Mion whispers to me. "What was up with you earlier? I understand that it's more fun for you guys if it's a girl that has to do the punishment game, but you usually think of something for Keiichi to do."

I decide to be honest with her. I start to blush as I explain myself to her. "Ah well, I was just looking forward to having you do the punishment game. I remember seeing a maid suit and cat accessories back at the school. I just kind of wanted to see you in it."

She snickers at me. "Don't you have a perverted mind."

I scratch my head in embarrassment.

"Bet you wanted me to call you "master" and end every sentence with "nyaa".

"Haha, yeah. Pretty much." I reply.

She smiles at me. "Well now I know what I'm going to make you do next time you lose."

I frown. _Ah great. Me and my big mouth._

"Haha, if you get lucky though Mike, you might get me. If that happens then you can make your perverted dream come true." She teases.

"It's no more perverted than you wanting me to dress up in it and do the same to you." I rebut.

"That's different. We aren't dressing you up to make you look good. We're dressing you up because it's funny. That's totally different." She responds.

"That's not what it's about. The whole point is to cause embarrassment. For guys, it's dressing up in girl's clothes. For girls, its dressing them up so they draw attention and have people stare at them."

"So you want people to stare at me?" She asks.

"No. I want to stare at you."

She chuckles. "At least you're honest."

"I don't think that you'd like me very much if I wasn't."

"You're right about that." She pauses for a second. "I really love how honest you are with me. You try to tell me everything, even if it is embarrassing or painful. I know that I can really trust you…"

I smile at her compliments. She continues on, "…but I think that you should probably keep some things to yourself."

My smile instantly disappears. I begin to feel a small pain in my chest. I feel like I did something horribly wrong. She notices the worry on my face immediately.

"No, I didn't mean it like that! You haven't done anything wrong. I'm not upset with you."

My expression softens.

"What I meant was that you don't need to tell me every little thing. It's ok to keep some secrets from me. I'm sure that there are some things that you won't want to tell me, and I'm ok with that. There will be some things that I won't want to tell you, so I hope you will allow the same for me."

"Of course I will, Mion. I understand what you mean. I just kind of felt bad about keeping secrets from you."

She smiles at me, and I return her smile. I reach out my hand and she takes it. Rika's performance is about to begin.

A man in a mask hits the drum, signaling the beginning of the ceremony. Rika appears on stage. She begins her dance. Her movements are quick, but fluid. Each step is timed. Each swing of the staff is in sync with the rest of her movements. I can tell that she has practiced for this dance quite a bit.

When her dance is over, the crowd claps quietly. She leaves the stage, and the villagers start the second part of the ceremony. Since neither Keiichi nor I have been to the festival before, Mion walks us through what to do. It's pretty simple really. We just grab a tuff of cotton, roll in up into a ball, and let it flow down the river. The cotton is supposed to absorb all the badness inside of our bodies, and we place it into the river, so our evil will be washed away.

We all release our cotton, and complete the ceremony. I can't honestly say that I feel any different from before, but I enjoy the experience. After we have finished, we head over to the shrine to hang out and talk.

Our talk consists mostly of our favorite parts of the festival. Keiichi and I are asked if we enjoyed our first Watanagashi.

"Of course. I don't know how you wouldn't have fun. Especially since we have all of our friends here." I reply. Keiichi agrees.

Rika returns to us after a little while. We greet her and she joins in our talk. She looks like she has something that she wants to tell us though.

"What's wrong Rika?" I ask.

Everyone stares at her, waiting for her reply. She finally gives it after a short wait. "Takano-san and Tomitake-san are going to be killed tonight."

I can hardly believe her words. _Is this supposed to be Oyashiro-sama's curse? I don't really care much for Takano, but I don't want Tomitake to die._

"Are you sure about this Rika?" Keiichi asks her.

She nods.

"We should probably do something to help them then." I say.

Everyone nods in agreement.

"Alright, it will probably be impossible for the entire night, but let's guard them till the end of the festival, at least." Keiichi suggests.

We all agree with him, and head out to find the two. If they are attacked, we would probably be able to fend them off. It would be pretty foolish to attack the two if we are around though.

When we find them, we explain that we wish to stay with them till the end of the festival. They agree to let us tag along. We then begin walking to the clinic. No attempts are made during our walk. We make it to the clinic peacefully. Tomitake thanks us for accompanying them. Takano explains that she will drop him off in her car so they should be fine from here on out.

Before we head back home, Rika warns the two, one last time. "Please be really careful tonight."

Satoko tells her that she probably overreacting.

Tomitake tells us that we'll probably meet again next fall.

"If we don't get killed, right?" Takano adds in.

I don't like the tone of her voice. She seems to think that this is some sort of game. I don't think that she's taking Rika seriously. So far, the only reason I have to even put up with her is that she and Tomitake came to help out Satoko when she was in need.

_At least Tomitake seems like a nice guy. I would truly be sad if he really did die tonight._

We wave goodbye and head back home. When we have separated from the rest of the group, Mion tells me that she forgot something at the festival. I offer to walk with her, but she tells me that she'll be fine on her own. We decide to meet up in my room later tonight. With that, I go to the mansion ahead of her. I take my bath, and head to my room to wait for my love. She enters about half an hour later. After we have hugged, we go over the day.

I explain that I really enjoyed my time at the festival. Mion tells me that this has been the best festival that she has ever had.

"Why's that?" I ask.

She blushes.

"It's because you were there." She replies.

I smile. "I'm glad I was able to make the festival so enjoyable for you then."

We continue our talk about the day. When we get to Takano and Tomitake, Mion asks a question.

"Do you think Rika is just being paranoid or something?"

"I think Rika truly does have something special about her. Her words aren't to be taken lightly." I reply.

"That would make this the fifth year then."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." I try to reassure her.

We continue our talk. When we reach the end, I become curious about when she forgot at the festival. She just tells me that it's a little trinket that she forgot. Her answer is pretty vague, but I let it go. We have finished our talk, so we get up and give each other our goodnight kiss and hug. She then heads off to bed.

As I fall asleep, I think about the fun I had today. I was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again next year.

_I just hope that there won't have to be any deaths this year or any of the years after this._

_

* * *

  
_

The next day goes by smoothly. We aren't informed of the deaths of Takano and Tomitake so we assume that they are all right. We are able to have a fun day like all the rest of our days. The only thing that I noticed was that there was a white car, waiting for Rika when we got out of school. No one seemed to think much of it though.

After work, Mion and I walk back to the mansion together. She seems to be in an extremely happy mood. When I question her about it she says it's nothing. She is almost pulls me the entire way home. She is quite energetic. I laugh it off as nothing.

When I finish my shower, I head over to her room. I knock on her door like I always do, and move my hand to the handle expecting her to say "come in". I am surprised to hear, "Hold on for a moment." I drop my hand back down to my side and wait for my permission to enter. I am half tempted to peek inside, but I restrain myself. After a few moments, I am granted my permission to enter.

I am astonished to find Mion, standing there in a maid outfit. She has cat ears and gloves on as well. I can also see a cat tail behind her.

"W-welcome m-master. How are you to-today?" She pauses for a second. Her cheeks turn cherry red, as she finishes her sentence. "Ny-nyaa!"

She can't even meet my gaze. She is too embarrassed. I am amazed that she would do this for me.

"Mion, what's all this? You didn't have to do this for me."

"I-I know. You said that you wanted to see me like this, so I decided to do it for you…nyaa."

I can't deny that she looks amazing in the outfit. It suits her well and she looks very cute in it. I can't help but to smile. I walk over to her and hug her. She hugs me back.

"Thank you, Mion. You really didn't have to do this for me, but I am glad that you did."

We hold each other for a few moments and the release each other. I decide to compliment her.

"You know, you look really cute in that, Mion."

"Uhh, thank you, master…nyaa." She replies.

I chuckle. "It's ok, Mion. You don't need to call me "master", and end your sentences with "nyaa" anymore."

She lets out a sigh of relief. "Okay, thank you." I pull her close again for another hug, which she responds to with a giggle.

We then proceed to go over our day. I am unable to keep from smiling, because of the outfit she's wearing, and she is unable to keep from blushing, for the same reason. We finally finish and we stand. We exchange our hug and kiss and I leave for my room. Before I exit to room I tell her, "I'll have to get something good for you now."

"No, please don't." She replies.

I am a little confused at her reply. She continues what she's saying.

"We don't need to get things for each other just because the other has got us something. I don't want this to turn into some sort of competition."

"I understand what you mean. It doesn't mean that I don't still want to get you something. If I do though, it's because I wanted to; not because I felt obligated or anything, okay?"

"Okay." She agrees.

I head to my room and quickly fall asleep. My dreams that night are about a world full of cat people.

* * *

The next day at school, Rika is absent. Satoko explains that she felt like she had a cold and couldn't come. She asks us if we could come by after school and come to check up on her. We all agree to.

School goes by pretty quickly. We are all a little worried for her. So we decide to hurry over to their place. Halfway to their house I remember something.

"Ah crap!"

Everyone turns around.

"What's wrong, Mike?" Mion asks.

"I forgot. I have an appointment with Irie to get an x-ray of my back today. Ah, whatever. I'll just skip it today."

Everyone puts on a worried expression.

"Rena thinks you should go Mike-kun, you should." Rena tells me.

"She's right, Mike. It's pretty important that you get your back checked out." Mion adds. "We can tell Rika that you had something important to do and you couldn't come. Don't worry about it."

"Alright, alright. I'm going to head right over after I'm done at Irie's though."

They acknowledge me and I turn to head the other direction. I decide to jog over to the clinic. I want to make there as fast as possible.

* * *

The five remaining friends continue on to Rika and Satoko's house. Satoko unlocks the door when they arrive. They all walk upstairs to check on Rika. When they see her, she is talking on the phone with someone. It would be impolite to interrupt her, so they wait and listen to what she's saying.

"Yes. An anonymous call…Yes. There seems to be someone planning to kill me. It could be the same people who killed Tomitake and Takano!..." She hangs up the phone.

Keiichi calls out to her. When she turns, the members begin to ask her about her phone call.

"What do you mean someone is planning to kill you?" Rena asks.

The others add in their questions, but she is too stunned to answer. After a moment she begins to explain.

"I have never told this to you all until now. The Hinamizawa Syndrome and how my life is being threatened."

She begins to explain about the syndrome.

"In Hinamizawa, there is a regional disease. This is the Hinamizawa Syndrome."

She explains about how the syndrome is activated if the one infected either moves away from Hinamizawa, or becomes extremely stressed out. She tells the story of how the disease was discovered back in the time of the war. The soldiers were suddenly becoming wild. They could not tell friend from foe, and saw everyone as a threat. Their lives were usually ended by them committing suicide, by clawing out their own throat.

"According to the research done by the doctor who discovered the disease, everyone in Hinamizawa is infected with the disease."

She explains that if everyone just lives a normal life, the symptoms never show up. The people of Hinamizawa noticed the phenomenon and created "Oyashiro-sama's curse" to scare the villagers. They were told that if they were to anger Oyashiro-sama, that they would be cursed.

After Rika has finished explaining the disease, Keiichi asks her why such a disease hasn't been publicized. Rika tells him that there is no known cure for the disease so it would only cause a panic. She then goes on to explain that the second reason is that there are some who are planning on using the disease as a bacteriological weapon. She tells them that the ones conducting the research are the ones at the Irie clinic. The clinic is known as the Irie Institute. The workers there are working to develop a bacteriological weapon. The only one who isn't is Irie, who is working to find a cure for the disease. Irie and his staff were deployed by a group known as "Tokyo", which is composed of many politicians and old war generals. They sponsor the Irie Institute. Their only goal is the creation of the bacteriological weapon.

"Hearing this so suddenly…it's only natural if you don't believe me."

"We believe you, Rika. Your story may be outrageous, but we believe you." Keiichi tells her. Everyone nods in agreement.

Mion seems a bit worried though. Shion is the one to notice her.

"What's wrong, Onee?"

"I was just wondering. Rika said that the clinic is a weapons research facility. I was just wondering if Mike is okay."

Rika finally realizes that Micheal isn't in the group. "Why is he going to the clinic?" She asks.

"He had an appointment to get an x-ray on his back." Shion explains.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Mion." Keiichi tries to comfort her. "Just because we have learned what the clinic really is, doesn't mean that it is a dangerous place for Mike."

She calms down a bit. "Ah, I guess you're right."

Keiichi then turns to Rika. "Rika-chan, you said that you were about to be killed. How does this story relate to that?"

"I said that one of the triggers for the syndrome is leaving Hinamizawa, but that isn't exactly true." She pauses for a second. "I am the one hold back the disease."

She begins to explain that in every generation, there has been a "Queen Carrier". The Furude family has been the ones who have been carrying it. If a villager were to leave her side, that would trigger the syndrome. The carrier seems to emit some sort of pheromone that prevents the outbreak of the disease.

"Hold on a second." Keiichi says. "You said that everyone, including ourselves, is infected with this disease, right? What happens if you get killed?"

"The disease will be triggered in every citizen. All the villagers will go wild and a horrible killing spree will occur. I don't know why someone would want this to happen, but if there is some who would benefit from it, they will come after me."

"You also said that Takano and Tomitake were killed?" Keiichi asks Rika.

"Yes. Ooishi stopped me the other day. Tomitake-san was found with his throat clawed out, and Takano was found burned in a steel drum. The only thing that is strange is that the autopsy report tells that Takano died the night before the Watanagashi. Ooishi thinks that she might actually be the culprit."

"That makes sense. It's too suspicious that the times of death, for the corpse found, doesn't match."

Rika seems to be astonished.

"What's wrong, Rika-chan?" Keiichi asks her.

"Ah, well, I didn't really think that you all would believe me so readily."

"What are you talking about?" He asks her. "If you can't believe in your friends say, it's all over."

"Just as you believe in us, we believe in you." Rena adds.

With that, the club members begin planning. They have to find a way to save Rika. As they are thinking about what they can do, the phone rings. Rika picks it up. She asks whoever is on the phone if they could hurry of as fast as possible. After hearing the response, she hangs up the phone.

"Was that…Mike by any chance?" Mion asks. She asks with a worried expression.

Rika frowns. "No, it was Ooishi. He will be here soon."

Mion begins to look a bit worried again. Shion puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Ooishi and the police can be trusted right?" She asks.

"Yes, but I…feel more secure with all of you here with me!"

Everyone smiles. Even Mion, who is still worried about Mike.

Once Ooishi get there, Rika should be safe and she can head to the clinic to look for him.

It's only a matter of time.

* * *

When I arrive at the clinic, I find it nearly empty. _I'm guessing that I'm the only one with an appointment today._ I walk into the exam room and find Irie talking with a tall man.

"Mike-kun? What are you doing here?"

_Isn't it obvious?_

"I'm here for an x-ray, remember?" I reply.

"OH! Right, I forgot. Sorry, Okonagi. I need to take care of him for a sec."

The man doesn't seem to take offence. Irie and I head down to the x-ray room. We go through the procedure of taking an x-ray of my back. When we finish, we head back to the exam room to take a look.

We compare the x-rays from today, and last visit.

"Hmm." Irie says.

"What's it look like?" I ask.

"Well, it seems to have grown a little."

I frown. This is not the news that I wanted to hear.

"Do you think it will cause any problems?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. The only thing I can tell you from these x-rays is that the bones in your back have seemed to form some shape."

I look at the two sheets on the board. The newer one does seem dramatically different. Instead of a blob of bone in my back, I seem to have long rods running down it. Irie can't seem to figure out what it all means. I can't blame him. It's not like he as ever seen anything like this. He puts the x-rays back into their envelopes and leaves to put them in the store room. When he returns, I thank him for his time. Just as I am about to leave, the door opens and a few men walk in. The last one to enter the room is Takano.

"Takano?!? This can't be! They told me that you were dead!" I hear Irie say.

It takes me a second to register what he is saying. From what I can tell, Tomitake and Takano really were killed on the night of the Watanagashi. For her to be here now can only mean one of two things. She is a ghost, or she is really the one behind this. The correct answer is obvious. The shadows surrounding Rika's murderer in my dreams have dissolved away to reveal Takano.

"My my, who do we have here? Didn't expect to see you here Mike-kun." She taunts.

_I have to do something!_

I reach for my sword. At the range I'm at, it would be the most efficient weapon. Just as my hand reaches the hilt, I feel a sharp chop hit the back of my neck. My senses dull. All I can tell is that I am falling, and that my world is turning to blackness.

_Everyone…forgive me._


	13. Chapter 12: The Awakening

Chapter 12: The Awakening

Mion paces back and forth across the room. It's been about two hours since they received the call from Ooishi. Since that time, neither Ooishi nor Michael has shown up. It's clear to everyone that something is wrong.

Rika called the police station, but they told her that Ooishi hasn't checked in for a while since he left. Everyone has become a bit nervous, but they are trying to remain optimistic.

"I'm sure it's nothing. Ooishi will be here soon; same thing for Mike-kun." Shion tries to comfort her sister, who is the most nervous.

She continues to pace. Her eyes are watery; almost to the point of tears. Many scenarios are running through her head about what could have happened to him. She is so afraid that her emotional pain has begun to become physical.

"Yeah, Mion. Shion's right. Ooishi is just running late, and Mike-kun is probably on his way." Keiichi adds in.

Rika watches her friend pace the room. She is also worried about Mike. She is scared that something really did happen to him. The thought crosses her mind that she may never see her friend again.

"Hauu, Rika. What do you suppose happened to Mike?" Hanyuu asks.

"I don't know Hanyuu. I don't think that he could be captured so easily. He was only going to the clinic for a checkup. I don't think Irie is the one who is behind this either." She whispers back.

"Hauuuu!"

Everyone is trying their best to get Mion to settle down. For a while, she doesn't listen, but when Shion mentions that it's getting pretty late and that he might have just headed home, she settles down.

"D-do you think so?" She asks.

"It's a possibility." Shion replies.

Rena suggests something, "It is getting kinda late. Perhaps we should head home ourselves. We might actually see Ooishi or Mike-kun on our way, we might."

Everyone turns to Satoko and Rika to see what they think.

"That should be fine. Naturally, I've already set up some traps in the forest so if there is anyone who is coming to get us, we'll be ready for them. Right, Rika?" Satoko says.

"Uhh…yeah. I think we'll be alright. I'm glad that you all came today. Out of everything, I feel the most secure with you all." She replies.

The older friends leave the house and head back to their homes. Mion keeps an eye out for Mike as they begin their walk. Keiichi turns back to Rena who has stopped walking, and is looking into the forest.

"What's wrong, Rena?" He asks.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just thought that I saw something…"

* * *

When I wake up, I find myself lying on a cold cement floor. As I start to move around, I find that my hands are bound behind my back. My mind is still confused as I have just woken up. It takes me a couple of moments to remember how I got here.

…_TAKANO!_

My brain has begun to function normally since I have remembered the face of my enemy. I am able to get to my feet. I can see a door on the other side of the room. I walk over to it and turn around, so I can reach the knob with my bound hands. After trying it for a second, I find that it's locked.

_Figures._

I put my ear up to the door to listen. I can hear the sound of muffled conversations. I know someone's there, so it shouldn't be too hard to get their attention. I step back from the door and give it a hard kick.

*CLANG!*

I wait a few seconds…nothing.

*CLANG!!!*

…This time, the lights turn on. I am forced to close my eyes since my eyes are adjusted to the darkness. I hear the door open, but I can't open my eyes to look at who it is. Before I can do anything, I am kicked to the ground.

"Hey, the prisoners awake! Go get the Commander." The man in front of me yells out.

Just as my eyes are adjusting enough for me to see, I sense a few more people enter the room. As I open my eyes, I see the smiling face of Takano.

"Ah, Mike-kun. Glad to see that you've awakened."

"What do you want Takano? Why are you doing this?" I ask.

"My, my. Right to the point, aren't you?" She teases me.

I glare back at her.

"Really, it's quite simple. I am going to become Oyashiro-sama."

"…WHAT?!?" I yell.

She chuckles. "I am going to become Oyashiro-sama by inflicting "my" curse on all of the villagers."

"You're going to kill all of the villagers?!?"

"Only as a precaution. After I kill Rika, there will be nothing that could stop the villagers from going insane. If we just let them be, they would go from city to city, destroying everything they see. It would be a complete bloodbath."

"What the hell are you talking about?!?"

She begins explaining to me about the Hinamizawa Syndrome. As she is explaining it, I feel that I already know it. It's the same kind of déjà vu I have felt earlier. She finishes by explaining that Rika is the "Queen Carrier".

"You wouldn't have to kill all the villagers if you were to just leave Rika alone. It's not like there's a great chance that she'll be killed on accident. Right now, the only danger to her life is you!" I argue.

"You are quite right, Mike-kun. If we were to leave her alone, then the effects of the syndrome may never come into effect, but there is one thing that you don't comprehend. The citizens in Hinamizawa are like a bomb. Left alone, it will do nothing, but where's the fun in that? There are some in the organization I work for that want to see this "bomb" explode. They want to see it explode violently. That is why they sent me." She explains.

"You're sick! You and the ones you work for! You're all sick, twisted, murderous bastards!!!" I yell at her.

"I'm sure you think that, Mike-kun, but that doesn't really matter because you're going to be the first to die."

She pulls a needle out from her jacket and advances on me. I scramble to get away from her, but her men grab me and hold me down. She injects the fluid into my arm and begins to leave. Her men follow her. I am left in the center of the room. The door is shut behind them, and the lights switched off. They cut my binds before they left. I don't know what's going to happen, but I am scared.

I'm not scared for myself though. I have accepted my death. I know that Takano murdered Tomitake and probably Irie. I am scared for my friends. Tears begin to fill my eyes.

_I've failed._

I begin to weep. I have let my friends down. I promised to always be there for them, but I lied. Memories of my friends flow through my mind. Such happy time; gone forever. My love, my friends, my family; all gone. Takano has won. She is about to destroy all that I love and care about and I can't do anything about it.

I close my eyes and await my death. I count the seconds. It is too painful to think of my friends because I know that they too will be eliminated.

Minutes go by; nothing happens.

Half an hour comes and goes; still nothing.

An hour goes by, but the result is still the same.

I am surprised when the lights turn back on and the door opens. I cover my eyes with my arm and try to stand up.

"What the hell? Hey, he's still alive!!!" The man yells.

I move my arm up to my brow so I can see. It's still pretty bright, but I can see the man rushing at me with a police club. As he swings it down on me, I grab his hand. He is a little stunned, but he quickly tries to break it free from my grasp. I close my eyes so I can remove my arm from my brow. I go through the stances I was taught in training to disarm the man. He goes tumbling to the floor while I stand, holding his weapon.

My eyes have adjusted enough to see normally. I run for the door. When I get to it, I see about three men inside. They are heading in to backup the first man. I surprise them when they reach the door.

I easily make it past them and run for the second door. I come out into the hallway. I don't have time to examine my surroundings as I still have four men chasing me. I decide to run left. I reach the door at the end of the hallway and burst through it. The only way I can go is up, since I came out at a staircase. When I reach the door at the top of the stairs, I open it up to find a familiar setting.

_The Irie clinic?_

I can see the door to the clinic in front of me, but unfortunately I see Okonagi as well. He is blocking my exit. He has a big grin on his face. He thinks he has me trapped. I charge at him. Just as I am about to leap at him, I see a gun being drawn from his holster. I skid to a stop. I didn't have enough time to get him before he could fire. I would have wasted my life, needlessly.

_Shit!_

"Smart boy." He taunts.

After a moment the other men burst into the hallway from the stairs behind me. Takano also appears from inside the clinic.

"Oh my, what do we have here?" She asks.

One of her men answer, "He escaped when we went to check on him after an hour. He appears to be complete immune to the effects of the syndrome."

Takano frowns, "Hmmm…interesting."

She appears to be deep in thought. Her frown then turns into a smile.

"The operation has already started. I don't suppose that it would be too much of a hassle to let Mike-kun watch his friends' executions." She tells us.

After a little struggle, I am again bound at the wrists and then led to a van. Takano takes a seat across from me. I glare at her and will continue to glare at her until we reach our destination.

* * *

It hasn't been long since the others left to go home. Rika and Satoko have gotten their futon's out and are preparing to go to sleep.

"Let's sleep in our clothes tonight so that we will be ready if we need to escape." Satoko suggests. Rika agrees with her friend. They finish up their preparations and turn off the lights.

"Mii, do you think we should wait for Ooishi?" Rika asks.

"I don't know. It seems strange that he hasn't come already. If someone knocks at the door we can get up to see who it is though." Satoko replies.

The two girls get into their futons and begin to fall asleep.

"Rika…" Hanyuu calls to her friend.

"What's wrong, Hanyuu?"

"The time is about to come…" She says in a sad tone.

Rika becomes filled with grief and fear, but she pushes back those feelings. She has to believe.

"It'll be fine, Hanyuu. I will fight this fate. Even if it comes tonight to take me, I will fight it to see the next day!"

Hanyuu doesn't look convinced. She had hope before, but now that Mike has been removed, she has lost it.

Suddenly, a loud sound breaks out from outside. Satoko jumps up. She runs to the window and peeks out. Some men in basic work clothes are running for the door.

"Rika! We have to get out!" Satoko calls to her friend.

Satoko grabs a hang-ladder from the closet. She opens the window after the men have burst through the front door. She then attaches the ladder to the window frame and throws it outside. Rika and Satoko both climb out and down the ladder and then make a break for the forest. A loud crash can be heard a few moments later. Satoko chuckles. She had rigged the ladder to only support their small weight.

They continue to run through the forest. They can hear the sounds of pursuers.

"Who are these guys? Are they the "Tokyo" group you were telling us about?" Satoko asks.

"Yes, I think so." Rika answers.

They run and run. Both of them know the area better than the men following them, so they are able to keep a certain distance from the ones chasing them. As they are running, Rika accidentally stumbles over a rock.

"Rika!" Satoko yells.

"Run Satoko! If they catch you, you'll be killed!" Rika tells her friend.

She doesn't run though. She decides to block the way instead.

"I'll hold him here, so hurry!" Satoko says.

Rika stands up. She knows that if she is killed, the entire village will die, but she can't abandon her friend. She just can't.

Rika walks in front of her friend and confronts the men that are chasing her. There are four men. They advance slowly, careful about any tricks they might have. The closest man is holding out a stun gun.

Just as the first man is about to come into striking range of Rika, Keiichi appears out of nowhere. He smashes the man in the back of the head with a metal baseball bat. Rena also appears and strikes the second man in the stomach with the backside of a cleaver. The farthest two men appear stunned and Mion and Shion take advantage of them. Shion stuns the first man with a small tazer that she keeps on her. Mion uses the close combat skills she has learned to knock the last man on the floor. Shion then goes to each man, and knocks them all out with her tazer.

"Are you two okay?" Keiichi asks.

"Yes. We're fine, but what are you all doing here?" Rika asks.

Shion explains, "Rena said she thought she saw something. She had a bad feeling about it so we all went to get some things that could be used as weapons and came back."

Rika surveys the group, but again Michael is missing. "Did you not see Mikey?"

Mion stares at the ground. The others frown.

"We didn't see him on the road, and he wasn't at the mansion." Shion explains.

It isn't looking good for Mike so everyone drops the conversation. The six friends take off into the forest once again. Their plan is to make it to the Sonozaki Mansion. There is an underground tool shrine that they can use to hide in.

After a while of running they notice a van. They stop running and take cover.

"What do we do?" Shion asks. "If we continue, we will likely be caught."

"I suppose we could go beat the crap out of them and take their car." Keiichi suggests.

"Sounds good to me." Mion says.

It appears she has turned her fear it anger. If something has happened to Mike, it would be these people that have done it.

"We can get a car out of it. I'll also make them tell me where Mike is!" She adds.

Keiichi takes the lead, "Okay, now that that's decided, let's do it!!!"

* * *

Takano doesn't seem to care that I've been glaring at her since we got in the van. She has been grinning the entire time. She seems amused by my gesture of hate.

"What's wrong Mike-kun? You seem angry." She taunts me.

I don't give her an answer. I only glare at her more. Words can't describe the hate I feel for this woman. I never liked her before, but now I have a completely justified reason to hate her guts.

After a while, the driver tells us that he spotted them. Fear grips my mind. If they are caught, they will be killed. The driver pulls the car over. The back doors open and the men file out. Takano reaches into her coat and pulls out a handgun. My eyes grow wide as I look at it. She begins to leave to vehicle. Just as she is about to step off, I struggle with the man holding me. I am able to break free and rush for the door. I can see it closing so I leap. I am able to squeeze through the gap before it closes and I roll onto my knees.

I take a deep breath and yell, "GET OUT OF HERE!!! RUN!!!"

The movement in the forest stops and changes directions.

"Get on the radio and tell them to go after them!!!" Takano orders.

She then walks over to me and points the gun at my head.

"That was quite brave of you Mike. It seems that you have become more of a nuisance more than anything else so I think that I am going to dispose of you now. Any last words Mike-kun?"

Just as I am about to open my mouth and make a smart remark, a terrible pain grips my back. I cry out in pain and fall over. Takano does not seem amused as she thinks I'm faking it.

"Oh come on Mike-kun. Can't you just accept your death like a man instead of putting up this charade?"

I am unable to hear her. If I had, I wouldn't be able to reply. The pain is greater than it has ever been. It's not just at the base of my neck this time. It runs all the way down. I begin spasming and coughing up blood. Takano realizes that I am not acting.

"HAHAHA! Who would have thought that your body would take the time to torture you before your death?!?"

_Why?!?_

Tears begin to fill my eyes.

_Why am I being subjected to this pain?!?_

I feel nothing but the pain that's tearing through me.

_Why do I have to suffer like this before I die?!?_

My eyes open to see Takano laughing. My body is still pulsing with pain. I am coughing up blood every couple of seconds. I just want to die.

Takano stops laughing. She grins widely at me. She opens her mouth and the words come out, "Goodnight, Mike-kun."

She pulls the trigger.

…time slows to a near halt.

…the flash of light from the barrel.

…the chrome bullet races for my forehead.

…the pain, still filling my body.

It has all come down to this. This is my final moment. This is the end of Mike.

I close my eyes. My world turns to darkness. Just as the bullet is about to enter my skull, I feel my entire back rip open.

_How Ironic._

_

* * *

_

They had all heard him clearly. They all knew who had said it as well. They needed to get away as fast as possible. It was a trap.

Rika and her friends continue their run through the forest. Their friend had protected them by telling them of the trap that was ahead of them. It was not long afterwards that the loud bang rung out from the road. Everyone had halted. Mion dropped to the ground crying. They all knew what it meant. Their friend had given up his life so they wouldn't fall into their enemy's trap.

"We have to keep going. If we stop here, they'll catch us for sure." Keiichi advises.

"No. I don't want to go." Mion says, still crying. "Life without Mike is no life at all. I'd rather die."

"Mii-chan, you can't say that. Mike-kun gave his life so we could get away. What would he say if he heard you say that?" Rena tells her.

Mion sobs a little more before answering. "He'd tell me to keep going. He would want us to live. All he ever cared about was keeping his friends safe."

Keiichi helps her onto her feet, and they continue their flight. They run for about ten minutes without seeing or hearing any signs of their pursuers. Soon enough, they come out into a large clearing.

"Alright, we're almost out. At the end of this clearing is just a little bit more forest. After that, we'll be out in the village. They'd have to be pretty stupid to follow us that far." Keiichi explains.

After a small break to catch their breaths, they begin their run across the clearing. It looks pretty good to them until they reach the middle of the clearing. Once they got to the center, four men came out from behind the trees in front of them. Each one is holding a sub-machine gun.

"Damn it. Get out of one trap just to get caught in another." Keiichi curses.

The friends are forced to surrender. Soon they will all be killed.

* * *

My mind begins to come back to life. As I become aware of myself, I feel a bit of confusion.

_Am I dead? I'm not sure, but I don't feel any different from before._

The first thing I notice is the taste of blood and metal in my mouth. There is some object that is resting on the inside of my cheek. I bring my hand to my mouth and spit it out. After examining it, I find that it is a 9mm handgun round. It's covered in saliva and blood.

I reach up to my forehead to feel the spot the bullet should have entered, but I only find smooth skin. I force myself to sit upright. My hands are no longer bound so I can move around more easily. As I survey the area, confusion starts to fill my mind.

All around me are Takano's men. I can also see Takano herself lying on the ground a few feet away from me.

_What the heck happened?_

I don't really have any time to figure out what events occurred here because I can see one of Takano's men regaining consciousness. The moment he notices me, I stand up and start to run.

"Hey…" He yells out, but his voice trails off in less than a second.

I am not able to make it very far though. I completely stumble and fall after my second step. I go tumbling forward for a few feet. I can't comprehend what happened. When I put my foot down to take my second step, the ground wasn't there. After a split second though, it came, but I wasn't ready for it and I couldn't put much power into the step.

As I am lying on the ground, I notice something soft has fallen on top of me. I lift my hand to push it off. Just as I touch it, a strange sensation sends a zap of electricity down my spine. As I am holding the soft…thing in my hand, I feel the sensation of touch. Not just in my hand, but also in the object I'm holding. A second sensation alerts me that I am lying on top of another one of these things. Before I can examine these new things attached to me, I remember my situation. I stand up and look back at the man that's chasing me. I am surprised to see that he's nearly twenty feet away.

_How did I cover forty feet in two steps?_

I easily come to the realization that my strength has somehow been increased. When I run, I am able to cover more distance than I was previously able too. That's why I fell. I wasn't used to my new speed and I was still in the air when I tried to put my foot down.

I stand up again and start running. This time, I measure my steps as to not repeat my previous mistake. I am easily able to escape my pursuer. Soon he is completely out of sight. I take the time, to get some cover in the forest. I grab one of the extra "limbs" that are attached to me.

As I examine it, I find that it is very long and soft. It's about as tall as I am. The top and the side seem to be heavily muscled. The inner part is composed of some lightweight material. The only word that comes to mind is "feathers". It is then that I realize what I have grown out of my back.

_I have friggen angel wings!_

My joy is overflowing in my mind. Every person dreams of growing wings and flying like an eagle. Somehow, my dream has come true.

_Ah man! I've got to show Mion!_

Suddenly I remember. My friends are still in danger.

I chastise myself for being so selfish and stupid to forget my friends. I start running through the forest in the direction my friends ran. My wings are still new to me so I can barely use them. As I run, I am experimenting with moving them. It is awkward and difficult. The whole experience is like learning how to walk again.

After a while, I am able to flap them slightly. They create a small gust every time I do. If needed, I think I could use them to gain some lift. One thing I know is that they are both extremely powerful. I may be able to use them to bash an enemy.

After a few minutes of running, I come to a small clearing. I hide behind a tree and look into the clearing. Four men are standing around. One appears to be talking on the radio.

"This is Big Bird 5. Come in Command. We have the target and her friends. Please respond with orders."

Nothing but static.

"Come in, come in. This is Big Bird 5. Requesting orders. We have the target."

Again nothing.

_Looks like Takano is still out cold._

I can see my friends huddled up in a circle in the middle of the men. I can see tears falling from some of their faces. I feel compassion for them.

_They probably think I'm dead. Its okay guys hold on. This won't take long._

I head over to the forest nearest the men so they can hear me. When I am in position, I start trampling the underbrush around me.

"What was that?" One man asks.

"I don't know. I'm going to go check it out." A second man replies.

I look up at the shortest branch. It's a little high, but I think I can get to it. I prepare for my leap. Right as I jump, I pump my wings. The extra boost sends me a bit higher than I expected. I actually make it to the third branch.

_Not what I was going for, but this works too._

The man proceeds cautiously through the woods. He is looking around every corner. Unfortunately for him, he isn't expecting an attack from above.

*Wham!*

The man falls to the ground with me on top of him. I place my hand on his mouth, and the other on his back. At first I don't know what I'm doing with my second hand on his back, but my mind begins to run on auto-pilot. I feel energy flow to my hand. I can hear the small crackle of electricity. After a second of charging, *Bzzzt!*, the man goes unconscious. A small amount of extra electricity discharges from my hand as I pull it off his body.

_It seems I have a built-in stun gun._

I wait a few minutes for a second man to venture into the forest in search of his partner. This time, I let him call out to his friends when he finds the unconscious body of their friend. The three of them begin looking around for me. Using my wings to grip the tree trunk, I climb down a bit to get in striking position.

I have to time this right. I could be shot and captured if I do it wrong. I have to get all three at once. Luckily, they are staying close. I stalk my prey. They are being extremely conscious of their surroundings. One man looks away from my direction, and I see my opportunity. I leap.

I am able to grab two of them men and bring them to the ground. I myself landed on my feet so I am ready for the fight. The third man turns around, but he is too late. He is the first to receive the shock to the gut. He falls down unconscious. I turn to the two men who are scrambling to stand up. I leap at the second one. He starts screaming as I force him to the ground with my hand.

_Jesus, settle down. I'm not going to kill you._

The shock doesn't come as fast as the first did. I realize that it takes a little bit of time to cool down and recharge. *Bzzzzt!* the second man goes unconscious. I turn to the last man, but he has his gun ready for me.

_Shit!_

He begins spraying me with bullets. By pure reflex, my wing comes out in front of me and the muscles in it flex. The feathers become stiff and the whole wing becomes a large barrier. The bullets ricochet off the wing. As I look at it, I can see my assailant clearly. The feathers have become transparent somehow. When the gun stops firing, I am ready to finish him. He scrambles to reload, but he is nearly fast enough to stop me. *Bkatzz!!!* He falls to the ground.

I become a little worried. The last zap seemed a bit too much. I reach down and check the man's pulse. Thankfully, I feel the beating in his neck. Though these men are out to kill me and my friends, I will not kill. I have sworn to never kill a human unless it is completely necessary.

I quickly head to the clearing and to my friends.

"Mike!" They all cry out.

I smile.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late."

Mion begins to cry again. This time, I can tell they are tears of joy. When I go to cut their binds, my hand instinctively goes to my sword. I remember though that my sword and my gun were taken away when I was captured, but I hand touches something. Suddenly I feel a weight at my hip and on my back. I pull the object from my hip and find that it's the white sword I was given by the old man. I reach up to feel the weight on my back, and find that it's the large blade that I bought by trading my paycheck.

After I have finished cutting everyone free, Mion hugs me tightly. So tightly that I don't think she'll ever let go.

"I'm so glad you're alright. I was so worried about you Mike."

I can tell that she doesn't even care that I have wings or anything now. She's just too happy to see me alive.

"I know. I'm sorry. I was worried about you guys as well." I tell her. "I thought Takano was going to kill all of you for sure."

"Takano's the one behind this?" Keiichi asks.

"Yeah. She killed Tomitake and Irie. She tried to kill me twice, but it seems that I'm really lucky or something." I reply.

At the mention of Irie being dead, everyone begins to look depressed.

"I'm sorry. When Takano came into the exam room, I leapt for my weapons, but Okonagi karate chopped me in the back of my neck." I explain.

"It's not your fault Michael-kun. You did what you could." Satoko says.

"How come you have angel wings now Mike-kun, how come?" Rena asks.

"I guess that's what has been growing in my back for a while. They just came out right as Takano shot me back in the forest." I tell her.

"She shot you?!?" Mion asks.

"I think so. When I woke up, the bullet was in my mouth, and it had some blood on it. I can only assume that it was my blood."

The others still have questions to ask me, but I remind them that we need to get moving.

"We can talk more when we know that we're safe." I say.

We start running towards the edge of the clearing. We aren't that far off from Mion's place so we shouldn't have much more trouble. If we do run into anyone, I can take care of them.

A great amount of relief fills me as we run. For the first time in the last few hours, I feel like I've succeeded. I no longer feel like I've let everyone down. Once everyone is safe, I go and get Takano myself and bring her in to justice.

We are about to reach the end of the forest when I spot some movement up ahead. I motion everyone to stop. We all take cover as I survey the area. It appears that Takano has sent her entire force to the end of the forest. I can detect more than thirty men, walking about.

_Shit! This isn't good. She really doesn't want us to escape._

I would be able to take out few the men, but I could easily be overwhelmed. We have to go around. I motion for everyone to follow me. We move slowing and quietly. We keep low and measure our steps. If we are spotted, it could be all over. Once again, I sense some movement in the direction we're heading. I watch and see that it is a very large group of men, again. I am reluctant to do so, but I feel that we need to head for the road side. We turn around and head back the other direction.

When we reach the road, we find it deserted.

_You couldn't make a more obvious trap._

It's obvious. The moment we step foot out of the forest, they will be on top of us. I need to find a way to catch them by surprise. I look around. When I look up to the sky, I see that the trees from this side of the road are close to the trees on the opposite side of the road near the tops of the trees. I could probably jump to them and get a good view of their trap, but just as I am about to explain my plan to my friends a man comes out from behind us and points a gun at my friends.

"Freeze!!!" He yells.

_Damn it! The trap wasn't coming out to the road. Just coming near it was the trap._

A second man moves out into the open. "Get moving you all! Out to the road with you!"

We are forced to follow their commands. I hate myself for being so stupid. The men lead us to the center of the road and have us wait. A moment later, a van pulls up. The first one to step out is Takano.

"Ah, Mike-kun. I'm so glad to see you again. You gave us quite the surprise with that blast back there. I actually thought that you might get away with your friends. Guess I'm just a bit better than you though." She mocks.

"Shut up, Takano! This isn't over! I will not let you kill any of my friends!" I declare.

"Oh? How are you going to do that, I wonder?"

"Like this!"

She is suddenly on guard. She seems to know that I have some new tricks up my sleeve. She seems to relax though after the only thing I do is draw my large sword.

"Ahahahaha. What are you going to do with that Mike-kun? All my men are armed to the teeth. Do you think you can defeat us with that little blade of yours?" She mocks again.

Her words mean nothing to me.

_I have to defeat you!_

Power fills my body as I hold my blade at the ready. The entire scenario runs through my head. There is no chance for her men. I cannot be defeated when it's my friend's lives at stake.

My body disappears. Takano's eyes are wide with amazement. She can only watch as each of her men fall to the ground. Blood squirts from their legs and arms. The phantom that sliced their bodies is only a blur to them. He is back in the spot that he had been standing in, not a split second ago, again. I sheath the sword just as the men hit the ground.

Each man is screaming in pain. They can neither stand nor use their weapons for their limbs have been cut deep. They will all live to see tomorrow though. I made sure of that.

"What have you now, Takano?" I mock as I point the tip of my sword at her.

She stares in blank amazement. "That's…not…"

"Not what, Takano? Not possible?" I taunt.

She is visibly shaken. I was able to take all of her men down in the blink of an eye. Literally, if you had blinked during that moment, it would have appeared that I had done nothing. Still shaking she raises her gun and pulls the trigger.

Time slows down for me. I see the bullet as it travels through the air. I watch as it gets closer and closer. Just as it comes within a foot of my body, I unsheathe my sword and swat it away with the flat of my blade.

Time resumes to normal speed. I can hear a small ring from the bullet striking the metal of my blade. Takano hears it to and knows exactly what happened. Desperate, she begins emptying her magazine of its bullets. I easily swat each one away as it comes near. Soon the gun only clicks when she pulls the trigger.

She begins trying to place a new magazine into the gun. I scoff and walk towards her. She scrambles furiously to reload her weapon before I reach her, but it's futile. I grab her by the throat and lift her into the air.

"It's over, Takano. You lose." I tell her.

"N-no! I-it can't be!" She mumbles.

Her eyes are full of fear. She knows that I will stop at nothing to protect my friends. I won this battle and there's nothing that she can do about it.

*Bang.*

The sound is not loud, for its origin is far away. It comes from behind me. I drop the woman in my hand and turn to see what has happened. I see Mion falling to the ground, face first. My heart stops. Using my inhuman speed, I rush to her and catch her in my arms. I flip her body around so she is facing up at me. Her head falls back over my arm.

"No." I say.

I rest her body on my knee so I can lift her head. As I do, I can feel the wetness of her blood. I don't even need to lift her head up to know what happened, but I do anyways. I see the red hole in her forehead. The exit wound of a bullet.

"No!"

I hold her head in my hand. Tears begin to fill my eyes. I look into the deep green depths of her eyes to see the life that should be there. I see nothing.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

My heart rips in two. We were just about to win, but she is taken from me. Her life snuffed out like a match. She's gone and there's nothing I can do about it. Even with my newfound strength I was unable to save her. Deep pain and sorrow fill my body and soul as I hold the dead body of my love. I feel like a black hole. There is no light inside of me anymore. It too has been snuffed out.

I can hear the others. They too are morning the loss of Mion. We all cry for the one we loved so much. No one cries more than I am though. I am the one who is hurt the most.

I am unable to morn for her for very long though. I am brought back to reality at Rika's call.

"Mike! Look out!"

I turn my head to see the barrel of a gun. I watch the hammer fall. Time doesn't slow for me this time. It can't. My strength was destroyed along with Mion. My world once again turns to black. This time it seems fitting.

* * *

I wake up in front of my friends. My entire body is bond with strong chains. Had Mion not been killed, I might have had the strength to break free from my bonds, but the pain is still too near. Each one of my friends is lined up in front of me. All their eyes are red from crying.

"Ah, Mike-kun. You're awake. Looks like it's time to begin." Takano tells me.

She has taken on her cocky tone of voice again. There isn't any reason for her not to now. I no longer have the power to stop her.

She walks up behind Keiichi and places the gun on his head.

"No! Wait!" I yell.

"Hmmm? What's wrong Mike-kun?" She asks sarcastically.

"Please, don't kill him! He hasn't done anything wrong! He just-"

*Bang*

"Nooo!!!" I yell, but it's too late. Keiichi's dead body falls to the ground.

Again tears begin to fill my eyes. Another friend has been taken from me. He was perhaps the strongest one among us. He was the one with the plan, and the mouth to make that plan a reality. I would trust Keiichi with my life.

Takano walks over to Rena.

"Stop!!! Please! Don't kill her!" I plead, but she doesn't listen.

*Bang*

Rena falls. More tears come. Memories of Rena begin to flow through my mind. It seemed that no matter the situation she could make us all laugh with her silly antics.

She moves to Shion next.

"Takano please! Don't do this! I'm begging you! I'll do anything, so please stop!!!"

She chuckles at my attempt to save my friend's life.

*Bang*

Shion falls to the ground, alongside Rena. She didn't deserve to die. Like everything else in her life, she didn't deserve it. She just wanted to live a happy life with her friends and to see Satoshi come back to her. She just wanted to be loved and wanted. I tried my best to do that for her.

My insides churn at the sight of my friends. I begin to vomit. I cry some more. The pain inside my heart grows with the death of each of my friends. I can barely stand it anymore. I feel like my life is being trampled upon right in front of me. All that I know and love is being destroyed as I watch, helpless.

She moves on to Satoko. I look into her eyes. It's all I can do now. She is brave. She doesn't cry or beg for her life. She is prepared like the rest of my friends were.

*Bang*

Satoko was the fun girl. She was always trying to pull a prank on me, and later Keiichi. She was probably the most competitive out of us all. All she ever wanted was to get her "Ni-ni" back home. She even put up with abuse to prove her strength. Though it was the wrong way to do it, I still admire her. She was truly a brave and strong little girl.

"Ah, Rika-chan. We finally come to you. It's almost time for me to become Oyashiro-sama. Are you ready?"

Rika confronts her. "You will never be Oyashiro-sama! "

"Oh? I beg to differ." Takano replies smugly.

A man walks over to her with a rag.

"No, wait! I want to be conscious so I will remember that you did this to me, in the next life." Rika tells him.

"Hmmm? Don't you want to be drugged before I kill you? It will probably be very painful to have your innards removed while you are awake."

"What?!?" I yell. "You can't do that! How can you be so cruel as to cut her insides out?!? Are you even human?!?"

"HAHAHAHAHA!" She laughs loudly. "You're questioning whether or not I'm human?!? Why don't you get a look at yourself before you ask such a stupid question?"

"He is more human than you are Takano." Rika vouches for me.

"Fine. Believe what you wish. It doesn't really matter to me. Anyways, I grow tired of this useless chatter. Let's begin, shall we?"

Takano begins working on Rika. I watch as Rika is stripped naked and cut open. Tears flow yet again at the pain of my friend. I am glad though. Takano can't see them, but Rika and I can. Our friends are there, around her. They are all lending their strength to her. She doesn't have to die alone. None of us had to. We were all there with each other till the very end.

The presence of Rika appears next to our friends. I know that that is the sign that she is gone. All the strength in my body leaves me at that moment and I pass out.

* * *

The next few weeks are painful for me. Every moment that passes by feels like an eternity. I have become a living shell of the person who once was. Michael no longer exists. He died along with his friends and his village.

I have been transported to a secret facility. I have no idea where I am, nor do I really care. I don't care about anything anymore. I no longer laugh, smile, or make any facial expression at all really.

Many experiments are done on me every day. Blood samples are taken daily as well. Many of the tests vary. Most of them consist of piercing my body in some way. The concept of physical pain is no longer known to me. The only thing that I know is the pain of losing my friends and family. When I am left alone in my cell, I cry. That is all I can do.

Today is special though. Today I meet someone from my past.

_Takano._

A man enters my prison.

"It's time to go. The commander is here to watch your experiments. Be on your best behavior okay?" He taunts.

I make no attempt to rebut. His words don't hurt me. The only thing I can think of is Takano. The man grabs the chains around me and forces me to my feet. He pushes me out the door and into the hallway. There awaits seven more men. They surround me and we begin our march to the test chamber.

"I wonder what they're going to do to him today. Swords? Knives? Guns? It never gets old!" One of the men laughs with another.

These men enjoy my suffering. They think it's funny. Not like I care though.

We continue our march until we reach Takano.

"Long time no see Mike-kun. How are you doing?"

I remain silent. The men fan out and bow to the woman in front of me.

"That's not very kind, Mike-kun. You could at least say hello to me."

I ignore her words. I have no need to concentrate on them. They are meaningless. All I know is that the woman that destroyed everything is standing right in front of me. My rage grows. I pour all my pain and suffering into it. I feel the strength growing inside my body. The love for my friends can no longer fuel my body, so I am dependant on my rage. For the first time in weeks, my face shows an emotion other than my blank stare.

My face shows a heavy glare. Takano isn't phased by it yet again. She will be though. Her time is up. I release the power in my body. It begins flowing through me; giving me strength to fight one last time. I pull at the chains that bind me, and push out with my wings. They don't even hold me for a second. The links shatter from the immense power pushing against them.

The moment I'm free, I lunge at Takano. I grab her by the neck and run with her in my hand to the wall in front of me. I smash her against the wall, causing her to cry out in pain. Her eyes are wide with fear.

_To think she thought she was safe from me._

The men rush up behind me. Not wanting them to interfere, I smash both wings into the ground and flex the muscles. They become solid; as hard as steel. Actually they are harder than steel. They are the strongest and hardest material there can be. If anything were to be fire at me, they would block it, no matter what it was. There is no way these men could get past them. It is just me and Takano now.

Takano is struggling in my grip. I notice her reaching for her gun. Right as she has pulled it from its holster, I pull her away from the wall and smash her back into it again. The shock makes her drop the gun. I notice a shadow on the wall. The men are trying to fire over my wings at me. I smirk.

Bullets fly out and away from me. The stray bullets nearly hit the men who fired them. It didn't take them long to find out that there is another barrier, the same strength as my wings, above wing level. I am completely protected. They are stupid to keep trying.

Takano is beginning to realize the situation she's in and begins to plead with me.

"Please, stop. What do you want with me?"

"Isn't it obvious? You destroyed everything I knew and loved. I want you dead." I reply.

"Please, have mercy on me."

"Ha, mercy? Did you have mercy on my friends?"

"I-I'm sorry. Please don't kill me. I'll do anything."

I smile. "Anything?"

I see hope fill her eyes.

"Y-yes. I'll do anything, so please don't kill me."

I let her down to her feet and slacken my grip on her throat. "Alright, Takano. There is one thing you can do for me."

Her eyes show that she's eager to hear my request.

"I want you to bring my friends and all the villagers back to life."

The hope disappears.

"I-I can't do that. I'm not a-"

"A what, Takano?!? You're not a god?!? Oh, but I thought you were a god! If I remember right, you call yourself Oyashiro-sama! If you're so almighty then surely you do something so simple as to bring my friends back to life!" I yell at her.

Tears begin to fill her eyes. She knows that I won't have mercy on her. I am going to kill her like she killed my friends. She is going to die and she knows it.

"P-p-please!" She pleads once more, but my expression stops her.

"I'm tired of your shit, Takano. It's time to die!"

I reach up and draw my blade from it's sheathe. I pull my arm back and prepare to impale my victim. I thrust.

"NOOOO!!!!!" She screams.

The blade stops, inches from her chest. My breathing is ragged. Tears begin to fall down my face. The only thing that stopped me was the small girl standing there with a sad expression on her face. I let the tip of the sword drop to the ground. The weight of it becomes too heavy. The moment I drop it, it disappears. I lose the strength to stand and I am now being propped up by my wings, which are still embedded in the ground.

The girl walks over to me and stands in front of me. I look into her eyes.

"Hanyuu…I'm sorry."

She smiles. I feel a sensation that I haven't feel in what seems like an eternity. I feel happiness.

"Come Mike. It's time to go. Everyone is waiting for you."

She reaches her hand out to me. I take it in my own. She gives a small tug, and I feel as my spirit is pulled from my body. It immediately collapses. Takano steps away from the body and her men surround her. They point their guns at it like it will get up and attack her once more. I turn to Hanyuu.

"I'm ready. Let's get out of this horrible place."

She nods her head and we begin to float towards the roof of the building. Just as we are about to move through it we hear a commotion behind us.

We look back to see a horrible sight. Blood covers the walls. The men are spraying bullets into the mess in front of them. I can see the mutilated parts of a man on the ground. No, that's wrong. There are multiple men lying on the ground in pieces. I black blur is moving from man to man, ripping each one into pieces and then throwing him in any direction it wishes. If I had a stomach, I would be throwing up my guts. I reach around Hanyuu and pull her close. Soon, all the men have been thoroughly dismantled and scattered around the hallway. The only one left standing is Takano. She screams and turns to run. The only thing she finds in front of her is the black shadow. She falls down backwards. She crawls backwards as it advances on her. As it reaches down to grab her, she puts her arms out. It's no use though. It has her by the face and has lifted her up into the air. With it facing upwards I can see what it is.

"Its…me." I say.

The thing holding Takano in the air is me, or at least my body. It is different though. It is wearing black armor. Its wings aren't white like an angel's and it isn't made out of feathers. They look more like bat wings than anything else. It also has large fangs coming down from its upper jaw.

Takano again tries to plead for her life. "Mike-kun, please forgive me. I'm so sorry. If I can do anything to make it up, I will."

"Mike-kun? I'm not Mike-kun. Mike-kun is gone, and he left me this wonderful body. You wouldn't understand my real name if I told you so you can just call me Rage."

The thing possessing my body is clearly a demon. It makes me sick to think that it's using my body to do such evil.

"I'm surprised, Takano. Don't you recognize me? You're the one who created me after all."

"W-what are you talking about?"

The monster chuckles.

"You know. When you went and killed all of Mike's friends. I was born from all the pain and hate. That's why I'm called Rage. If it weren't for you, I would have never come to life." The demon explains to Takano. "It's ironic. By fulfilling your dream, you have sealed your own death."

"What do you mean? If I was the one who created you, then shouldn't you be grateful?"

Rage drops Takano to the ground. He lets out a sinister laugh. "You forget, Takano. I was created out of the pain and hate that you caused. Naturally I will feel that same hate for you. Do you understand now?"

Takano is backed up against the wall. She understands him completely. She is too afraid to answer.

"Hmm. I'm tired of you now. I think it's time to begin the fun."

Takano tries to make a break for it, but Rage is right on top of her. He lifts her up, draws his sword, and stabs her in the stomach. The stab is precise. He is careful not to damage anything vital. He wants her to suffer through her death. He begins stabbing her in multiple places; each one won't be a place that will kill her. After stabbing her a bit, he digs his fangs into her neck, like a vampire.

"Mmmm. It tastes so good, Takano."

She can no longer scream. She is too weak from the stabbings. She is in too much pain. Her life is fading fast. The monster sucks on her until she is about to pass out. Just when she is about to faint he grabs her skull and begins to squeeze.

"Goodnight, Takano."

*Crack*

Her skull caves in. Her life is ended. As I look at the sight, I realize what kind of monster I almost became. The creature laughs. His laughter is full of evil. Both me and Hanyuu shudder.

"Come on, Hanyuu. Let's get out of here." I tell her.

She nods in agreement.

"What's wrong Mike? Didn't like the show?" Rage calls to me.

I turn back around. "What you did was wrong. I'm glad Hanyuu came when she did."

"Oh? That little girl?" He asks.

Instinctively, I reach around her and push her behind me.

The demon laughs again.

"Don't worry Mike. I'm not going to do anything to you two. You make sure to win in the next world though, Mike. I'll be waiting to see your success."

Again he begins his demented laugh. I feel fear as I look at him. I don't understand what he's trying to say, but I just want to get out of there as fast as possible. I turn and together, Hanyuu and I leave that evil place. We travel upwards. The world begins to shift into another dimension. Soon I can see my friends. Hanyuu and I take our places in the circle.

"Mike, glad you could come." Mion greets me.

I smile at her. Happiness returns to me as I once again see my love's face.

"I'm glad to be here." I reply. I feel a bit of pain for not being to save my friends. "I'm sorry you guys. I failed, but I promise that I will do better next time."

The others laugh.

"You didn't do anything wrong Mike. You did everything you could." Mion tells me.

"Yep, Mike-kun did well, he did. Rena adds in."

My friends take turns comforting me.

"If it wasn't for you, none of us would have made it as far as we did." Shion says.

"Yeah, you're the one who looks after all of us. You're our guardian angel." Satoko adds.

"No one would have been able to rescue us from the clearing like you did." Keiichi points out.

"There is no one stronger than Mikey. He is our older brother and he will fight any bully that tries to hurt his family. Nipah!!!" Rika says.

The last person is Hanyuu.

"Auu, they're right Mike-kun. This wasn't your fault. It was mine."

"How do you mean, Hanyuu?" I ask her.

Her reply is simple. "I lost hope. When you didn't show up for a while, I lost hope that we could make it. That's what caused us to fail."

I want to object, but I feel that she's speaking the truth.

"It'll be different this time though! I will have faith. I know that if everyone works together, we can break fate!"

Everyone nods their heads.

"Alright, let's go break it then. Let's defeat Takano and live to see a world beyond this endless June."

With that, the world begins the spin around us, and a new adventure begins.

* * *

*Author's Notes*

I'm going to start the next Chapter as a new story.

If you aren't too weirded out by my story so far, feel free to look for the sequel.


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